


Fara í Víking

by Erandir



Series: Fara í Víking [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Canonical Character Death, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death, Norse Mythology - Freeform, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-07
Updated: 2014-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-18 09:15:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 101,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erandir/pseuds/Erandir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Space: The Final Frontier; and like any frontier, filled with outlaws and criminals. A crew of space pirates learns of a mythical treasure hidden amid the ruins of the long dead civilization of Asgard and head out on an epic journey through many trials; from the ice locked planet of Niflheim, to the unstable volcanic Muspellheim, and running out of alcohol light years from any trading post. But it's all worth it for pickled fish and, of course, more gold and glory than five men know what to do with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hófvarpnir

**Characters:** Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Sealand. Cameos by Estonia, Latvia, Netherlands, Russia.  
 **Pairings:** Sweden/Finland, Denmark/Norway  
 **Warnings:** Alternate universe, sexual situations, violence, language, abuse of Norse and Finnish mythology references.  
 **Summary:** Space: The Final Frontier. And like any frontier filled with outlaws and criminals. A crew of space pirates/Vikings learns of a mythical treasure hidden amidst the ruins of the long dead civilization of Asgard and head out on an epic journey through many trials; from the ice locked planet of Niflheim, to the unstable volcanic Muspellheim, and running out of alcohol light years from any trading post. But it's all worth it for pickled fish and, of course, more gold and glory than five men know what to do with. **  
**Notes: This was my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel. A portion of it was written before it became a fanfic, so it also reads with the intent of being an original novel. That is to say it's _really really_ AU. **  
Non-Canon Names:** Denmark – Mathias Andersen; Norway – Aleksander Nilsen; Iceland – Eiríkur Nilsen.

* * *

**Chapter I – Hófvarpnir**

Taking up with pirates, he decided, probably had not been the best career choice. But stabbing one's commanding officer in the shoulder while in a drunken rage rather destroyed one's hopes of furthering a career in the military.

That was how Tino Väinämöinen found himself here, the newest member of a crew of pirates and working under the obviously made-up title of "Gun Manager", or at least that was what they were calling him today, but it had a tendency to change. Tino had lived aboard this vessel with its strange rag-tag crew for nearly a year now. He still was not used to it, and he was not certain he ever would be. His fellow crew members were very strange. There was the captain, Mathias Andersen, a man who was always smiling even when putting his fist through another man's face. Mathias was overconfident and brash, a braggart and a heavy drinker. Danish, and proud of it, though in this day and age nationality was judged more often by language than by anything else, which meant he could have been born on any number of colonized worlds who spoke Danish as their primary language. Although, Mathias certainly looked like he could claim true heritage; with wild ash-blond hair and bright blue eyes that, if you looked closely, belayed a wisdom and pain otherwise hidden by his ever-present smile. He intimidated Tino a bit, with his loud voice and fondness for bladed weapons, but Tino suspected it was mostly bravado.

The ship's navigator and pilot was a completely different sort of man. Almost the exact opposite of their captain, Aleksander Nilsen was quiet, subdued, and showed few of his emotions. His face was always void of emotion, his deep blue eyes uninterested in all he stared at. Only two things were able to bring emotion to that face. The first was the captain, whose loud voice and penchant for physical displays of affection annoyed him to no end, but at the same time Tino had seen him emerge from Mathias' room rumpled and half asleep on more than a few mornings. The other thing was his younger brother, Eiríkur, who had never spent more than a few hours away from his brother's side his entire life. Aleksander was quite protective of his brother, who was still a teenager and should have been in school. Tino did not ask why he was not. The pair spoke Icelandic to each other as though it was some secret code they had devised as children for keeping secrets from their parents.

Lastly, there was the engineer. Tino was honestly frightened of this man. Tall as a tree, broad shouldered and strong; his face, it seemed to Tino, was frozen in an ever-present glare behind the wire rims of his glasses. He barely spoke a word, but when he did his voice was gruff and mumbled. Berwald Oxenstierna was what he had been introduced as; Mathias simply called him 'the Swede' and rarely addressed him by name, even to his face. He rarely came up from the engine room except to eat and sleep, which Tino was grateful for because he was not sure he could handle spending too much time around the man.

Hófvarpnir, just Hofvar for short but more often simply 'the ship', was an old craft; Karvi class, something that was not built anymore. Mathias had found it in a junk yard, broken but intact, salvageable but not worth the effort by its previous owner, whom he assumed to have been a merchant of some kind. The overeager Dane had bought the wreck off the junkyard owner for the entire contents of his pockets, which was more lint and bottle caps than cash. Then Mathias had unceremoniously dumped his purchase on Berwald, drafting the other man to perform the necessary repairs to make the vessel functional.

It had taken Berwald months to get the ship flight worthy. But, of course, neither he nor the supposed captain, Mathias, knew how to pilot the vessel. That did not stop Mathias from trying, however. The flight was disastrous, only a few hours in the sky before crash landing in a thankfully empty field on the other side of the city. It had taken Berwald another few weeks to repair the damages from the crash, after which he demanded Mathias find someone who actually knew how to fly before he let it off the ground again.

It was a long and narrow thing, every room accessible by one single corridor that ran down the backbone of the vessel. Two levels: above the four rooms of the crew's quarters, the bridge fore and the galley astern, below was the engine room and cargo hold. It was not fancy; built for function, not beauty, all sheet metal and exposed piping. From the outside it looked only slightly more impressive than from within. The metal siding burnished silver, the name emblazoned on the side in bold strokes. On either side of the prow was painted the head of a dragon. It was tight quarters, and living in the cramped space took getting used to.

With only four bedrooms the two brothers, Eiríkur and Aleksander, shared quarters, except on the nights Aleksander spent in Mathias' berth, which was not nearly regular enough for them to consider Aleksander moving. Although, Mathias had been quick to suggest that Berwald just sleep in the engine room since he spent all his time there anyway. This idea had been quickly shot down with disapproval from all four of his crew members.

* * *

Berwald still remembered the first day the new weapons specialist had stepped aboard their vessel. He remembered the shock; this could not possibly be the highly trained sniper he had heard about, the man discharged from the military for assaulting a superior officer. And he remembered that strange other feeling that had welled up inside him. He had never believed in love at first sight. Now he did. Tino was perfect. That golden-blond hair, his petite body, the violet eyes that spoke of an ancestor who had dabbled in genetic engineering; he was the most beautiful thing Berwald had ever seen.

And, of course, he was absolutely terrified of Berwald.

The engineer was used to that, actually. He knew what affect his appearance usually had on people and Mathias never hesitated to remind him of what a 'scary bastard' he was. It had never bothered him before, but now it did. He hated how those beautiful eyes only looked at him with trepidation. And he hated himself for not being able to do anything to fix the situation. Because every time Tino looked at him Berwald lost what little speaking ability he had.

Tino had been understandably nervous when he met the other members of his new crew; men he would be spending an indefinite amount of time with. Before stepping aboard Tino had only met Mathias. If not for the captain's pure strength of personality and Tino's rather helpless life situation at that moment he probably would not have taken up with them.

"This is Tino Väinäm… Väin… I can't say it right," Mathias eventually gave up with a shrug as he introduced Tino to the rest of his new crewmates.

"Tino Väinämöinen," the short man confirmed with a smile that did not belong on the face of someone with his sort of training, "Pleased to meet you."

"Right!" Mathias grinned and took up the introductions again. "Aleksander Nilsen, our pilot and navigator," he said, indicating the thin blond man with bored eyes and a pin holding his shaggy blond hair out of his face. "And Eiríkur, his brother. He doesn't do much of anything." This earned the captain a punch in the arm from Aleksander while Tino turned his attention to the teen. The two were obviously related; they had the same elegant features, like nobility, and pale blond hair. Eiríkur's hair was so light as to be almost white.

Tino met Aleksander and Eiríkur peacefully enough, with a nervous but cheerful smile for each of them as he shook their hands. But when he came to Berwald that smile faded. "Berwald's the engineer. He keeps us up in the sky and not stranded on some rock. You probably won't see much of him," Mathias introduced, but Tino was only half listening. He stared up at the engineer with his lavender eyes wide, Berwald was a full head taller than him, there had to be at least a ten centimeter difference. Those lavender eyes turned from nervous to genuinely frightened in only a few moments, but Berwald was to busy staring in amazement at the beauty before him to do anything to reassure him.

So began Berwald's hopelessly unrequited crush on the little gunman.

* * *

While Hófvarpnir floated leisurely through the emptiness of space on autopilot the five members of her crew spent a lot of their spare time lounging about in the galley, which had been converted into a make shift sitting room. The metal benches that had once been bolted the floor around the table in the center of the room had been removed and replaced with more comfortable seating. A sofa sat along one wall, its upholstery had at one point born intricate patterns of flowers and vines in bright colors; it had probably been a hideous thing in its prime, but the colors had faded to browns and grey-greens that made the now threadbare fabric actually bearable.

Three more chairs sat closer to the table, one a comfortable if bland grey desk chair, the others a pair of mismatched armchairs, one overstuffed and faded red cotton, the other leather that had been mended a few too many times. Mathias always commandeered the red chair, proclaiming it his captain's chair and evicting anyone he saw sitting in it even if he himself had not been planning on sitting down at that particular moment. All the other seats were first come first served and the latest member of the crew either had to choose the less comfortable desk chair or squeeze in on the sofa with two others. More often than not Berwald ended up in this chair.

A calendar hung on a nail in the wall that was three years out of date and on the wrong month. But the picture was a beautiful landscape of mountains running down to the ocean at the mouth of a fjord. No one had the heart to change it.

They whole crew sat around the table now. Aleksander and Eiríkur lounging on the sofa, the former nursing a cup of pathetically weak coffee. Mathias, as usual, took up his seat of honor and made himself comfortable with his feet propped up on the metal table despite Aleksander's protests that he was getting it dirty. Tino had managed to get there in time to steal the leather chair for himself, but he always felt bad whenever Berwald showed up last and had to take the least favorable position. Being stuck in the engine room, Berwald always took longer to get to the impromptu crew meetings that Mathias called. It simply took him longer to abandon his post and climb up the ladder to the main deck of the ship. But he never looked put out by his situation.

"So what are we here for?" Eiríkur asked once they were all settled.

"We need a job," Mathias replied simply.

Silence fell over the small group for a moment as the others waited to see if he would elaborate. The captain did not. "Did you have anything in mind?" Aleksander asked over the rim of his coffee cup.

"Not really," Mathias shrugged, and played with a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead, twisting and pulling at it until it stood up again with the rest of his out of control mane. "There are no politicians or rich merchants coming to this side of the galaxy for ages. But we're running low on supplies so we need something at least to trade with. If we stock up we can head over to the beta quad where there will be more work."

"So what? You want to just pick off the next ship we come across?" Aleksander asked.

"Might as well," Mathias replied. "Every ship has a few things on it worth trading. Even if we have to strip it for parts."

"We can't do that, it would leave them stranded," Tino argued. While he did not mind stealing, that was one thing he never wanted to do.

"We're pirates, what do we care?" Mathias asked, but sighed. "Though I guess we don't want little Tino feeling guilty about strangers he'll never see again anyway."

Tino flushed in embarrassment and looked down at his lap, pouting slightly. It was not the first time he felt like he was the only person on this ship with a conscious or morals. But these were pirates, he reminded himself. And Tino was not a pirate. Tino was a soldier who just happened to work for pirates now.

"Anyway," Mathias continued. "There's nothing of interest here, so we might as well head to beta quad. We can get what we need on the way if we have to, but one good hit should give us enough to trade for some real supplies."

"Fine by me," Aleksander replied.

"And me," Eiríkur nodded in agreement.

"Right then," Mathias grinned and swung his feet back to the ground. His heavy boots thumped on the metal flooring and he hopped to his feet. "Set course, Aleks! And keep an eye out for any decent sized or nice looking ships."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Fara i Viking" is a phrase taken from Old Norse runic inscriptions meaning "to go on an expedition". In Icelandic sagas the phrase "to go viking" implies going on raids or piracy.  
> Hófvarpnir - the flying and "sea-treading" horse of Gná, a goddess who ran errands for Frigg.  
> Karvi - the smallest ships to be considered a longboat. They are general use ships up to 23 meters in length that were sometimes conscripted for military use.


	2. Shopping Trip

They sailed on for a week before crossing paths with anyone. That was not terribly uncommon; this part of the galaxy was sparsely populated. What was surprising was that the first vessel they crossed paths with was a supply ship. Headed for one of the farther colonies, doubtlessly. Cargo ships were easy to spot, identifiable light-years away. They were fat bellied things, like an obese fish, with the tiny flight deck and windows at the front and the large cargo holds below and behind. It was a hideous design, really, but functional. As soon as the shape showed up on the Hofvar's sensors Mathias called an all stop to plan their attack.

Even a year later Tino still was not entirely comfortable raiding innocent merchants for supplies. But he went along with it now because he knew that was the way they had to live. He knew Mathias had absolutely no qualms with it at all. The man was born for this lifestyle of chaos and marauding, and that made him perfect as a pirate captain; he never hesitated to take what was needed to keep his crew well fed and his ship running properly. The others, Tino was less certain about. Aleksander was difficult to read and Eiríkur was going through that period of teenage rebellion where anything against the rules sounded like a good idea. If he had to guess, Tino would like to think they had found themselves in a similar situation to his own, with little choice but to take up with someone like Mathias in order to stay alive. He saw no other reason why someone with Aleksander's skills and brain, both of which Tino had seen him prove on numerous occasions, would choose a life like this.

Silent and smooth Aleksander drew them toward the cargo ship while Tino climbed up into the weapons array that sat low cramped above the bridge and foremost cabins. It was really not so much an array in this ship but a single gun and grapple. The grapple was not even an original part of the ship, but something Berwald had tacked on because it was necessary for their line of business.

Aim. Fire. Dead on like every shot that Tino fired. The grapple, magnetized, latched onto the side of the cargo ship directly beside the emergency airlock and began drawing it in. It was a boring shot for Tino, but he performed his duty without complaint before climbing back out of the array and collecting the weapons that he would much rather use. Two small handguns tucked into his belt and a rifle slung over his shoulder. He probably would not get to shoot anyone, though.

Mathias lead the raiding party, as he always did, with Tino at his back for what little intimidation the small sniper could offer and Berwald for much more significant intimidation and in case they needed to pick up any technology. Aleksander and Eiríkur stayed aboard to guard the ship in case there were more than one or two people on the cargo vessel and they decided to fight back. There rarely was.

The grapple drew the cargo vessel in despite the pilot's attempts to free his ship and Aleksander forced a docking. As the airlocks connected the rush of air filling the void whipped Tino's shaggy hair into his face and he blew his bangs back off his forehead in annoyance. No haircut for nearly a year, he thought he was going to go insane, though he admitted it looked a lot better than the short military cut he had been used to before. With a clang the door opened and the gunman held his rifle to his shoulder, cocked and ready but his finger was not on the trigger. He did not intend to shoot anyone today. And no one greeted them from the other side of the airlock.

Mathias strode past Tino and walked onto the cargo ship as though he owned the place. "No welcoming party?" he asked, sounding almost disappointed. "Berwald, head on down to the hold and start packing, Tino with me. We'll go say _hej_."

Neither Tino nor Berwald voiced a confirmation, but they went their separate ways none the less. While Berwald turned away and headed into the bowels of the ship, Mathias led Tino down the corridor to the bridge. They did not meet any resistance on the way, and when Mathias pulled the door open they found out why. There appeared to be only one person on this ship, a pilot who looked to be no more than twenty years old, dressed in a uniform that was nigh brand new and did not fit him quite right. The pilot cowered back in his chair as the two pirates strode in. For their part, Mathias and Tino were not actually all that intimidating in appearance except for the rifle that Tino held pointed at the young pilot's head, but it did not seem likely that the young pilot had ever dealt with their like before. Tino actually considered him lucky that they were the first he would meet.

"Hallo," Mathias greeted with his trademark grin. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but you know how it is. We'll just be taking enough food and water to get us to beta quad and anything really expensive. You don't happen to have any valuables locked up in that super-secret safe I know all these ships have under the dash?" The pilot stared at them, petrified, and shook his head quickly. "Are you sure that's the truth?" Mathias asked. "'Cause my friend here hasn't been able to shoot anyone for quite a while and his trigger finger is a little twitchy. Isn't that right?" He cast a glance back at Tino, who only nodded silently and began tapping his finger on the side of the gun impatiently. He doubted the young pilot would be able to call their bluff. "I wouldn't want him to slip, so why don't you just let us have a look?"

The pilot stared down the barrel of Tino's gun with wide eyes, still frozen for a moment, and then he nodded quickly and scrambled over to the controls. With a quick push of some buttons an entire panel popped open, revealing the instruments on it to be fake and behind it a small hidden safe. Mathias strode across the small room and looked over the terrified young man's shoulder as he typed in the combination and pulled the door open. He was about to reach inside and take out what was within, but Mathias beat him to the punch, shoving the pilot out of the way and bending down to take a look into the safe himself. Unceremoniously he pulled the contents out one by one, assessing each item individually. Jewelry, deeds of ownership, nothing that really caught the captain's interest until he came to a thin metal folder, locked and with a very official looking crest on the front.

"Well what have we here?" Mathias asked curiously, standing upright again. "Tino, this looks military, come take a look."

Tino lowered his gun, trusting the shaking pilot not to try anything stupid, and walked over to Mathias. The captain offered him the folder and Tino took it from him to look carefully at the logo on the front and the locking mechanism on the side. "That's government, for certain," he said as he looked it over. "Top secret military. Probably weapons plans, I'd say."

"Top secret?" Mathais' eyes lit up like a child on Yule morning. "Can you open it?"

"Not me, but Berwald might be able to," Tino replied with a shrug. "These locks are tiny but insanely complex."

"Well, let's bring it along, then. See what he can do. If he can't open it we can probably still sell it off. No harm no foul!" Mathias snatched the folder back out of Tino's hands and patted him on the shoulder. Then he flashed that trademark grin at the unfortunate pilot, "Thanks, chump. We'll be out of here before you can say invasion." Mathias turned on his heel and strode off the bridge in a few long steps. Tino cast the pilot one last glance, cocked his gun threateningly to discourage any attempts to follow them, and then left after his captain.

* * *

A cargo ship was mostly empty space with catwalks and ladders crisscrossing the large hold and floors that could fold in and out to create as many or as few levels as necessary for the particular cargo. Berwald climbed down the first ladder he came across and stepped onto the first floor. The crew all knew their way around a standard cargo ship, and Berwald was easily able to find a computer terminal to look up the cargo manifest. Food and water were their first priorities, and from the look of it this ship was holding quite a bit.

The Hofvar was still in good shape, mechanically. He did not need any specific parts, but if anything rarer showed up he would be sure to snatch it just in case. Better safe than sorry, as they said.

Leaving the terminal, Berwald headed further into the cargo hold, past high rows of boxes and crates, all labeled with their contents and the intended destination. Berwald ignored most of them. They did not need the crates of clothing, preserved plant seeds or other miscellany that the budding colonies on this side of the galaxy were having delivered. He would happily snatch up a fair portion of their fresh food, though. One thing he always missed was fresh food. The Hofvar had no stasis pods nor space for a small hydroponics lab and most of the time the five men who called it home were stuck eating preserved food out of cans and jars, and sometimes dried stuff when that ran out.

Another level down he found the locked stasis room where fresh food had been stored. Tucked to the back and side of ship, the room was little more than a glorified pantry, but it was without a doubt the jackpot of almost any cargo ship. Behind the plain iron doors and complex locking mechanism time stood still, preserving food to keep it as fresh as the day it had been loaded. The mechanical lock was easily picked for Berwald, but that was only one barrier between him and whatever sat on the shelves in that room. A panel beside the door popped off after a little jimmying with a screwdriver and then it was not difficult if you knew which wires to cross. A hiss and then the door popped open a fraction of an inch as it unlocked. But before he could open it and head inside loud footsteps on the catwalk above signaled that he had company.

"Swede!" Mathias' loud voice rang through the large space of the cargo hold as he strode carelessly through, his loud footsteps accompanied by the nearly silent steps of the little sniper who trotted along behind him. "Where'd you get to?"

"Stasis," Berwald called back up, and did not bother to listen to the reply that Mathias gave before he turned back to the task at hand. The door to the stasis room was heavy, designed to open automatically, not be pulled open by human hands. Berwald wrapped his hands around the edges of the door and braced one foot against the wall as he began hauling it open. He grunted softly, straining to get it open wide enough to allow him to slip inside. Shelves ran from floor to ceiling down the length of the room and Berwald paused a moment just to look at the shelves. It was fully stocked. This ship had not made any landings yet.

A low whistle pulled the engineer out of his thoughts. He looked over his shoulder to see Mathias standing just inside the doorway, Tino slipping in behind him. "Motherload," Mathias breathed, grinning. "And what have we here?" He moved over to one of the shelves and began looking over the contents with his usual lack of care.

Berwald ignored him and grabbed a box off of one of the shelves. It was filled with fruit, apples specifically, fresh apples. Apples lasted a decent amount of time even unpreserved, and could be cooked into something when they started to turn bad. Berwald carried the box over to the door and set it down. They would be taking that one.

"Fish!" Tino's exclamation came from further down the aisle. Berwald turned around to see the small man standing on his toes to see into a box on one of the high shelves. He turned, lavender eyes wide as he looked back at Berwald and Mathias. "There's fish! Fresh fish! Oh, can we take some? Please, we have to take some."

"What kind is it?" Mathias asked, hurrying down the aisle to Tino's side to look in the same box. Being significantly taller he could see the contents much easier. "Herring. Good God." He tucked the military folder he had liberated from the safe on the bridge under his arm and grabbed the box. "Jackpot, boys! Tino, grab some bread and anything else you can carry, Berwald-" as he spoke he strode back down the aisle and shoved the crate of fish into Berwald's arms, "Take this, and that," he nodded to the crate of apples. And then Mathias was running off down the aisle, dodging past Tino while the gunman filled a crate he had emptied with loaves of bread and anything else that caught his eye.

With their arms full, Berwald and Tino headed back up to the ship with Mathais' assurance that he would be right behind them. In addition to the fish and apples Berwald had topped off the crates with butter, eggs and cream. Tino had discovered bags of coffee which he had happily stolen before filling the rest of his crate with a miscellany of canned and jarred foods from cases in the main cargo hold. They came aboard triumphant and lead their two waiting crewmembers into the galley to unpack from their shopping trip.

Only a few minutes later, minutes which had mostly been spent drooling over the fish and contemplating different ways to cook it, Aleksander and Eirik tore themselves away from ogling the spoils and headed into the cargo ship themselves to see what they could retrieve. They returned a little while later carrying two water barrels between the two of them, which immediately went down into their own cargo hold.

Then Mathias appeared in the doorway, just as the two brothers were coming back up from the lower level of the ship, two crates in his arms and a shit eating grin on his face. "Aleks get us out of here," he said as he strode over to the table, "But be sure to put it on autopilot, because tonight we're having a party!" He dropped one crate onto a chair and then thumped the other on to the table, where it settled with a clinking of glass.

"Is that…?" Eiríkur asked, but did not finish as he leaned over the table to see into the box.

"Beer, vodka, akvavit," Mathias grinned, drawing bottles out of the crate to show off the labels. "Best in the quadrant, I'd say!"

Aleksander was gone in a second, moving as quickly as his inherent need to remain emotionless allowed him as he headed back down the ship to the bridge and began throwing switches to get them unhooked from the other vessel.

* * *

That evening, or what passed for evening in space, the crew enjoyed the best dinner they had had in months. Berwald cooked, and pulled out all the stops, but their supplies were not cut out for cooking up anything too fancy so his efforts made little difference.

"I didn't know Berwald could cook," Tino said thoughtfully while they waited for the fish to cook on the little electric stove that stood in the corner of the galley. The rest of the crew simply left the engineer to work, trusting him to make them a good dinner, and there was not much space over there anyway.

"I bet there's a lot you don't know about him," Eiríkur commented from the sofa where he sat, leaning against his brother while he flipped through the pages of the book.

"Well I've only known you all for a year, I can't possibly know everything about you all," Tino replied with a shrug. There was quite a bit that he did not know about his crewmates, come to think of it. He knew their names, their habits and their skills, but he knew very little of their lives outside this ship. It was something that most of them kept quiet about, and Tino did not have the courage to ask.

"Fair enough," Eiríkur agreed.

"He and Mathias grew up together, you know," Aleksander said. The captain was not in the room, though Aleksander may have said it anyway.

"Really?" Tino asked, and glanced across the room to where Berwald stood over the stove, his back to them. He was not sure they should be talking about this with him right there, but his curiosity had been peaked.

"Mm-hmm," Aleksander nodded. "On Midgard."

"Really?" Tino asked again. How had they gotten from the homeworld to the far side of the galaxy robbing from traders. "But aren't they from different colonies? They speak different languages."

"Things are different back on Midgard," Aleksander explained. "Have you ever been there?"

"No," Tino shook his head. "I've only heard stories."

"Well there the colonies aren't like they are out here. The whole planet is populated and people will speak a different language than someone who lives less only a few kilometers away," Aleksander explained. "Apparently those two grew up with just a bridge separating them."

"You've been there?" Tino asked. It certainly sounded that way from how Aleksander talked.

"No. But Mathias likes to talk," the pilot replied. A truer statement had never been spoken.

Their conversation was interrupted as Mathias' heavy footfalls sounded on the metal floor, announcing the captain's arrival before the man appeared to do so himself. "Damn! I can smell food from all the way in the bridge!" he exclaimed, crossing the galley in a few strides to peer over Berwald's shoulder – or rather around his shoulder given how tall the engineer was. "Is it almost done?"

Berwald grunted a reply that from experience the others knew translated to an affirmative. Mathias whooped happily and turned back around, taking a seat in his tacky but comfortable captain's chair. It only took a short while longer until the fish was finished, filleted and fried up with the few seasonings that they had, Berwald served them up onto the hodgepodge of mismatched plates that they had. Mathias happily brought out a bottle of the alcohol they had liberated from the cargo ship and five cups – two beer glasses and three ceramic mugs – and poured them each a liberal serving of vodka while the other three pulled their seats up to the table.

"Thanks for cooking, Berwald!" Tino chimed, and did not see the pink tint that came to Berwald's cheeks as he picked up his fork and began eating. "Oh," he moaned happily, "This is amazing!"

* * *

When he was not working on maintaining the engine Berwald hunched over the table in the galley with a collection of delicate tools and the locked government file from the cargo ship. He picked at the lock carefully, one minute rummaging around inside the mechanism with a tiny pick, the next turning the file over and over in his hands to look at it from different angles.

The rest of the crew left him alone while he worked, well aware of how important this was. Whatever was in there would be worth an insane amount of money on the black market, and only a fraction of that if it remained locked.

Unfortunately, leaving Berwald alone to do his work meant abandoning the galley completely, which left the rest of the crew without the comfy chairs and access to food while he was working. Well, Mathais did not really care if he caused a momentary break in concentration by going in to get himself an apple or a few bites of fish, Aleksander spent most of his time on the bridge anyway, and Eiríkur was able to slip in quietly without causing too much disturbance. Tino, on the other hand, was still too nervous around the tall man to even dare going into that room while he was working. He was too afraid that Berwald would turn that fearsome glare in his direction; that the slightest wrong move would earn him an enemy he couldn't afford to have. So Tino kept to himself in his small quarters and spent his time systematically and meticulously taking apart and cleaning his guns. Every single one of them. He was sure that would keep him occupied for a few days.

Berwald worked on the lock for nearly the full day every day for a week with no noticeable progress. And then it simply popped open. The engineer was horribly tempted to open it right there and see what was inside, but he knew Mathias would never forgive him if he did not let the captain have the first look. The satisfaction of having broken a military grade lock was good enough for him.

Feeling proud of himself he left the galley and headed forward down the spine of the ship to present his accomplishment to the others men.

As expected, Mathias was overjoyed to open the file and see what was inside. So excited he called a crew meeting to perform the honors. While his crew situated themselves around the room he stood before them, grinning like an idiot. "Now that this thing is finally open, let's see what's inside it," he said only after he was sure they were all paying attention to him. With a flourish he whipped the metal folder open and looked at the papers inside. His eyes ran over the first page from top to bottom, then the second page, then the front page again.

"What is it?" Eiríkur asked.

Mathias stared at the pages for a while longer. "It's….. I don't know what it is," he replied.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Eiríkur sighed.

"Let me see," Aleksander rolled his eyes and held out his hand. Mathias handed over the folder with at least enough dignity to look embarrassed. The file was filled with complicated technical jargon and diagrams. Aleksander's eyes flicked over the pages while both Eiríkur and Mathias read over his shoulder. "There's coordinates here of a research facility," he said thoughtfully as he looked through the pages of what was obviously a report of some kind. "This is talking about something they're developing there, I think," he added, "But I'm not sure …."

"Not sure what?" Mathias asked when Aleksander did not finish his statement.

" _Min gud_ ," Aleksander breathed. "This is… This is a wormhole generator."

"What?" Tino and Eiríkur exclaimed nearly in unison and Berwald's face matched their surprise. "But that's impossible," Eiríkur protested.

"That's what it says," Aleksander defended. He prodded the paper with his finger and began to read directly. "Capable of generating a routable inter-universe transversable passage through space-time," he quoted.

"Guys, guys," Mathias interrupted. "You lost me."

Aleksander rolled his eyes and looked up at the other man. "I'll put it in terms your feeble mind can understand, then. They've invented a machine that can make a shortcut in space. We'd be able to get from the farthest corners of Delta quad to Midgard in seconds."

Mathias' eyes grew wide and his grin even wider. "Cross the galaxy in seconds?" he repeated, giddy as a child with a new toy. "Think of what we could do with that! No more run-ins with the police! No more slow sailing and three month trips to get to another planet! Where is it? We have to get this thing!"

"According to this," Aleksander said, looking back at the papers again. "It's being developed at some secret government research facility in Alpha. I don't recognize the coordinates, though, I'd have to look it up."

"But those facilities are heavily guarded. And something like this I wouldn't be surprised if a whole squad of fighters was in orbit around the planet. You might as well go in search of Sampo," Tino scoffed. Suddenly four pairs of eyes were directed at him and staring as though he had suddenly sprouted a second head. "What?" the small man asked, unsure what he had done wrong.

"Are you speaking your gibberish language again? You know we don't understand it," Mathias asked and was rewarded with a swift elbow to the ribs from Aleksander.

"You mean you've never heard of Sampo?" a stunned Tino asked, sitting up straighter in his seat. He received only stunned stares from his companions and took that for an answer of the negative. "I used to always hear stories about it when I was a kid," Tino spoke, and drawn back into the mystery and childlike wonderment as he related the tales. "Sampo is a legendary treasure. No one really knows what it is, but it's said that whoever holds it will have good fortune. It can also make gold out of thin air!"

"So… It's like the Grótti mill?" Mathias asked immediately.

"I don't know what that is," Tino replied, obviously as unfamiliar with that reference as the others had been with his.

"You've never heard of it?" the captain asked in surprise.

Aleksander punched his captain in the arm. "They're probably just two different names for the same thing, idiot," he said. "Either way, they're just stupid old legends, they aren't real. We should focus on the matter at hand."

Mathias grumbled unhappily and slumped back in his seat. "Well if you think it's so impossible to steal the wormhole generator what do you suggest we do next?" he asked, directing his gaze straight at Tino.

The small man was startled, and didn't know what to say. "Well… I… I don't know," he admitted. He had never been put on the spot to suggest a target for one of their raids. Actually, he had never even thought about it before, content to let the others make those decisions.

"Does anyone have a better suggestion?" Mathias asked, casting his gaze to the other three men. But there was no reply from any of them. There were no rumors of rich merchant transports to rob, no small bounties they could go after or diplomats to kidnap. "Then it's settled," the captain decided, "We'll stop by the Chariot and see what intel we can get on this wormhole thingy and start planning. Meeting adjourned!" He thumped his fist on the table hard enough to make the coffee mugs jump slightly, then leaned back in his seat and propped his feet up on the table. "Everyone back to work!"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sampo- An item from the Finnish epic Kalevala, a mill capable of producing gold and other materials from thin air. It is a parallel to the Greek Cornucopia and Norse Mill Grótti from Grottasöngr and, in some retellings, the Holy Grail.
> 
> A/N: Thanks to my beta Narwhal123.
> 
> I'm pleasantly surprised with how good a reception this is getting. It's so different from anything I've seen before in this fandom I was a little nervous to post it, but I'm glad people are enjoying it. Here's another chapter for you! Merry early Christmas! Hyvää Joulua Suomelta!


	3. The Chariot

The Chariot was a roving space station of unknown origin. The stories were that it was a former scientific station that had been either taken over by pirates or the crew had mutinied against the government overseers, depending who you talked to. All that really mattered was that now it was independent, a world all its own, and answered to no one. Because of this it was a refuge to pirates and outlaws from all over the galaxy.

It had once been a magnificent thing, but had fallen into disrepair now that its residents were the dregs of society. It had been at the center of some nasty firefights and victim to more than a few aimlessly floating pieces of space debris. The once immaculate outer hull was scratched, burned and patched up. The original name and insignia of the vessel had faded and scratched off so that only a few halves of letters remain. Now there were no obvious identifying features to the space station. But that was exactly what made it so easily identifiable, provided you knew what it was, because from the outside it looked completely dead. A long time ago someone had plastered the outside hull with radar blockers so scans could not pick up the life signs and electrical signals aboard. If you didn't know what to look for, what channels to broadcast on and what keywords to use you would never find your way aboard.

Mathias held a very cryptic conversation with someone supposedly aboard the space station before they were directed to a port to dock on. As confusing and difficult as it could be to gain access to the Chariot, it was easier than hoping their forged paperwork would not be spotted when they tried to dock at a government station or land at a colony. Effortlessly, Aleksander drew them up alongside the space station and into the docking port. Their little ship, which was not very big to begin with, felt even tinier beside the hulking bulk of the space station spinning slowly through the void of space. They sailed in smoothly through the bay door and emerged into the enormous docking bay. The ceiling was so high above and the floor so far below that they could not be seen with the naked eye as the five men stared out through the main window. Either side was dotted with landing platforms, a good half of them already occupied with ships of all shapes and sizes. Aleksander set them down gently onto one of the platforms and clamped down the landing gear, which magnetized the ship to the platform in case there were any malfunctions with the station's gravity.

"Alright, we're down," he said after hearing the familiar 'chunk' of the feet locking into place, and then began working on shutting down the rest of the ship.

"Alright!" Mathias grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Get your things, boys, we've got work to do."

The five men stepped off of the ship looking forward to their short bout of shore leave. Even though they had to deal with business first it was always exciting for them to get off the cramped vessel they called home. Hopping onto the landing platform, Mathias stretched his arms up toward the sky and took in a deep breath of the filtered and recycled air. It was still artificial atmosphere, but it smelled and tasted different than the inside of the Hofvar. Different filters and more vast circulation systems had that effect.

Each of the five men had with them everything they would need for the next few days, which was not very much. Mathias had not seemed to bother bringing anything other than a wicked looking knife that was strapped to his belt and a wad of money he would without a doubt be spending on alcohol. Aleksander held a small bag of his and Eiríkur's possessions, likely a change of clothes and other practical items. Tino did not bring a change of clothes simply because he did not have very many, but he wore a jacket that was too big for him and a bit too warm in the comfortable atmosphere of the space station. But this jacket hung down over his hips and covered the twin handguns that were holstered there. He could not bring his rifle aboard the space station, it was too powerful and much too conspicuous, but Tino refused to leave his ship without some form of firepower, no matter how small. Berwald, who was the last to emerge from the hatch and locked the ship behind them, had an old leather satchel slung over his shoulder, Tino supposed it was filled with tools and mechanical parts that either needed repair or that he was hoping to trade.

"Alright," Mathias said, turning back around to face his small crew. "Work first. We'll gather what intel we can on this thing and where it's kept so we can figure out how to get in."

"We're going to see Eduard?" Tino asked hopefully.

"Of course!" Mathias replied with a nod. "Who else?"

Eduard was the best hacker in the entire galaxy, or so Mathias bragged for him because Eduard himself was much too modest to do such a thing. He was always the crew's first stop when they needed to gather information on anything. He was also the one who had introduced Tino to the brash captain and gotten the discharged soldier his new job. So the sniper was happy at the opportunity to see him again.

"And after work," Mathias continued, unfazed by his interruption. "Shore leave!"

"It's not shore leave if we're not on shore," Eiríkur pointed out.

Mathias frowned at him. "Don't be picky," he complained. "It's the same thing."

"Come on, let's just get going," Aleksander sighed and began walking off the landing platform, effectively cutting off any further argument. Mathias quickly spun back around and trotted after him, whining about being left behind and having his authority undermined.

They made their way through the many corridors and levels of the space station. The place was an absolute maze. It had been so heavily modified since its liberation from government hands that it barely resembled its original schematics. Mathias led the way, though his sense of direction had to be corrected a few times by Aleks before they reached their destination. The door they stopped in front of was as plain and nondescript as all the others. It did not even have a number on it. None-the-less, Mathias did not hesitate to knock loudly upon the metal, causing a ringing sound that resounded down the corridor.

The man that opened the door for them wore large wire-rimmed glasses and had his blond hair cut perfectly straight across his forehead. He was not particularly tall, thin and pale. He wore, surprisingly, a button up shirt and a tie, though they were rumpled as though he had been wearing the same thing for a few days in a row.

"Eduard!" Tino cheered happily when he saw this man and rushed over to give him a hug. He threw his arms around the bespectacled man's shoulders and hugged him tightly. Tino and Eduard were childhood friends. They had grown up on the same Finnish colony, both from relatively normal families and had completely normal childhoods. While Tino's fondness for marksmanship had lead him to a career in the military, Eduard's affinity for electronics had put him through higher education, but when given the choice between government service and freelance programming he had chosen freelance. And then the government had outlawed privately owned technology companies.

"Tino?" The man returned the hug awkwardly and then pushed his glasses up his nose as he drew back to take in the sight of the five men standing on his doorstep. "What are you all doing here?"

"We need your help," Tino explained.

"Well come inside and tell me what it is, then I'll decide if I can help you," Eduard agreed reluctantly and stepped out of the doorway to let the five men inside. Like all of the space station, Eduard's quarters were completely windowless. On the wall where the windows had once been now hung a row of computer monitors glowing steadily in the dim lighting of the room. Anywhere else Eduard would have to keep the reality of his job hidden, but compared to some of the people who called the Chariot their home his business of hacking into government databases was surprisingly tame and he was able to keep his work in the front room of his home and keep it out of his private life.

The lights flipped on when the men entered the front room, brightening it up significantly. The sudden change startled the only other occupant of the house, a boy of about fifteen, not much younger than Eiríkur, though significantly shorter and thinner, probably malnourished during some of his youth. Tino smiled brightly when he saw him and waved, "Hi, Raivis!"

"H-hello, T-Tino… A-and everyone," the boy stammered nervously, and got up from his seat, gathering up his things before quickly disappearing into the other room.

"Your brother's still paranoid," Mathias observed.

"He's just shy," Eduard countered as he ushered the five men into his home and shut the door behind them. "Have a seat and tell me what you're doing this time."

* * *

"You want to steal a prototype engine from a heavily guarded secret military facility in Alpha Quadrant?" Eduard asked in complete disbelief after the five men had explained their plan. The crew had seated themselves in the chairs that littered the room and Eduard himself sat at a desk, though with his chair turned around to face the other men.

"That's the goal, yes," Mathias confirmed.

"Are you out of your minds? That's impossible."

"I tried to tell him that, but he doesn't listen to anything," Aleksander replied. "Maybe if you can show him just how hopeless it is he'll give up on the idea."

Eduard sighed and spun his chair around to face the computers. The large monitors on the wall were fed from smaller one on his desk, which he squinted at now, adjusting his glasses before setting to work. His fingers blazed across the keyboard, as he searched for the relevant information. Mathias pulled his chair up close beside Eduard and watched him work even though he had no idea what any of the text on the screen meant. Pages flew up onto the screen and disappeared just as quickly as Eduard worked his way through layers and layers of security. Finally, he seemed to find what he was looking for.

"Here we go, this looks promising," he said, pausing on a screen and adjusting his glasses again as he read through it thoroughly. "At the coordinates listed in that file there is a government research and testing facility. On a dead planet, looks like." He flicked through some more pages. "It doesn't have a fancy cover story, but they're definitely lying about what's going on in there. There certainly hasn't been any talk about a wormhole generator being developed in any unclassified news. According to the official channels the only thing that goes on there is research into terraforming."

"Well that would explain why they haven't made any progress in terraforming," Tino commented, and came up to look over Eduard's shoulder at the screen.

"It would," Eduard agreed, and continued with his assessment of the information presented in front of him. "It's quite heavily guarded, as you probably expected. Satellite weaponry around the planet. Guards and guns around the facility. More guards with more guns inside… Security card access required to get inside. Pass codes for every level and... Iris, thumb print, and genetic confirmation needed to get to the mort restricted levels. That would be where the developers work."

Silence fell when Eduard finished his overview of the facility's security measures. It certainly seemed difficult to get in, but so far nothing the crew of the Hofvar could not handle. "Provided you can get through all of that," Eduard continued, "You would end up in the control room. According to this the actual technology is never touched by the scientists there. It's built by robots and kept somewhere else…" the man trailed off as he flicked through some more screens in search of further information. "Somewhere much more secure… Another building entirely," he stopped as blueprints popped up on his screens and his eyes quickly scanned over them, taking in everything and processing it as fast as his neurons could fire. "The building where the wormhole generator would be kept, I'm guessing," he pointed to a spot on the blueprints and quickly enlarged it on the screen. "Walls two feet thick, cement reinforced with titanium polymer. That's practically indestructible. The only door is where parts go in and finished products come out. That's diamond-grade titanium with…" he squinted at the blueprints, "Radioactive decontaminizers."

"What the hell is that?" Mathias interrupted.

"That means it kills anything biological with radiation," Eduard informed him. "But if you got to the control room you could turn that off. But provided you actually could get inside… This says the atmosphere is highly volatile, incendiary, even. One bullet from Tino's guns and the whole place would go up in flames like a nuclear bomb."

"So no guns, then," Aleksander surmised, now also standing behind Eduard to look at the blueprints on the screen. Tino pouted unhappily.

"No," Eduard confirmed. "I would advise against it even in the less secure parts of the building. If they have the atmosphere booby trapped in there, it might be the same everywhere. And if you manage to get past everything, not blow yourselves up, and somehow get your hands on the wormhole generator, you still have to get it out of there. And you can bet by then that the whole fleet will be waiting for you in orbit, ready to shoot you out of the sky without a second thought. And as good as Tino is, he can't fight that many ships by himself.

"It's impossible," Eduard concluded, "You might as well try to find Sampo."

A momentary silence descended on the room after he spoke. "That's exactly what Tino said," Eiríkur finally broke the silence.

"Really?" Eduard turned his gaze to his childhood friend, and Tino nodded in confirmation. "That doesn't surprise me, actually. We used to hear stories about it all the time."

"Well this Sam-whatever doesn't exist, and the wormhole thing does," Mathias interrupted impatiently. "So we're going after this," he pointed to the screen to make his point.

"Actually," Eduard argued softly, "I have heard rumors that something like it is hidden somewhere in this galaxy."

"Rumors are rumors!" Mathias argued. "Do you believe everything you hear?"

"I have it from a very reliable source," Eduard defended.

Aleksander interrupted before the argument could escalate any further. "Well unless you have actual information on where it's located, the wormhole generator is still our best bet right now."

"I can find it," Eduard said, determined. "Give me one day. If it actually exists I can find it and tell you exactly how to get it. You're all going to stay here for a while anyway. Just come back tomorrow and if I don't have anything on Sampo I'll help you figure out how to break into the research facility."

Aleksander stared him down. No one but Mathias was all that eager to break into the government base with the way that Eduard described it. "Fine, deal. You dig up what you can on this silly treasure. It'll probably be easier than breaking into a lab anyway."

"What? Don't make decisions without asking me," Mathias complained. "I'm the captain!"

"Mathias," Aleksander rolled his eyes and turned to face his captain. "If we go into this lab we will probably get ourselves killed. And all we can do with that thing is sell it on the black market because I don't think even Berwald can make it compatible with a ship as old as Hofvar. On the other hand, we can find a legendary treasure that will be worth just as much money, probably be less life-threatening, and we'll probably be famous for it. You can brag about how you found it for the rest of your life."

Aleksander knew exactly what to say. Appealing to Mathias' vanity and overwhelming ego was generally the only way to get the man to agree to something. And the opportunity for lifelong bragging rights and to become a legend himself was simply too much for the proud man to pass up. "Alright," he agreed, "Eduard, you better find this thing!"

"If it exists, I'll find it," the hacker assured with a curt nod.

"Awesome!" Mathias cheered, grinning as he hopped out of his chair, sending it wheeling across the room. "In that case I'm off to the pub, who wants to come?"

"Me!" Tino cheered, raising his hand high in the air as he bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly.

* * *

In the end Mathias and Tino were accompanied to the pub by Aleksander, who went along to make sure neither of them had too much to drink. Both Mathias and Tino had a tendency to overindulge when it came to alcohol, and this was not exactly a good place to loose one's senses. While the captain and the sniper made merry, drinking beer and taking the occasional shot of something the bartender claimed to be vodka Aleksander sat by quietly, keeping an eye on the other two but letting them have their fun.

Tino was obviously the stronger drinker of the two, despite being so much smaller than Mathias. He downed multiple shots of the vodka imitator without showing a single sign of drunkenness. Mathias, on the other hand, was beginning to show the effects. He sidled up closer to Aleksander, who was quietly nursing the only drink he had purchased.

"Your hair's pretty," the captain slurred, his elbows on the bar as he leaned as far toward Aleksander as he could. His head lulled to the side as he looked over at his companion, who was as stone faced as ever, trying to ignore the obvious come-ons that were dripping out of Mathias' mouth.

Tino had been all but forgotten by the captain, but that appeared to suit the sniper just fine. He had found himself a new drinking partner, a burly man with sleeves of tattoos on his arms who had seen the little gunman down several shots of hard liquor already and was looking for an easy win and some easy money. Tino became overconfident when he was drunk and so slammed down a handful of money on the counter and demanded a bottle of vodka from the bartender.

Aleksander tried to keep an eye on this, but Mathias was in the way and quite determined on keeping the navigator's attention focused solely on him.

* * *

While all this trouble was going down Eiríkur and Berwald went off in another direction entirely to find them somewhere to stay for a few days. While they could have stayed in their ship, it was more convenient to stay closer to Eduard and much more comfortable than the cramped quarters they had to put up with most of the time. Unfortunately, finding rooms for rent was not particularly easy, especially when you wanted two or more in close vicinity to each other. But after a significantly long search the pair managed to find two empty apartments that were more or less across the corridor from each other.

While Eiríkur finalized the arrangements for them to stay a few days Berwald went down to the pub to collect the other three members of their crew. By now it was time to get Mathias and Tino out of there anyway. And when the door slid open it was obvious Berwald had showed up just in the nick of time.

Aleksander was trying to fend off Mathias' advances as the captain draped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close, nearly falling of his bar stool in the process. The pilot looked like he was moments away from punching him in the face and dragging him out of there by the collar of his shirt. Even his usually emotionless face was pinched with annoyance as he once again swatted away the man's wandering hands.

Tino was standing on his knees on his bar stool in an attempt to look taller and slightly more menacing, but it did not appear to be terribly effective. His face was flushed from the alcohol he had imbibed that evening and he was shouting something, but Berwald could not make out the words over the rest of the sounds in the crowded room. The little sniper was obviously angry about something, and so was the man he was arguing with, who had to be more than twice Tino's size, but that was not stopping the petite man from getting right up in his face.

A twinge of worry flooded through Berwald as he saw this. Tino was a lot bigger in his mind than he was in real life, at least when he was angry. And he appeared to be very angry. Berwald hurried to make his way to the bar where the three men sat. About halfway there he caught Aleksander's eye and saw the man slump slightly in relief. Now that Berwald was here he did not have to worry about both Mathias and Tino, and he could work on getting the former of the drunken pair out of there. It did not take more than a whisper in Mathias' ear to get the man hopping out of his chair, and wavering slightly as he tried to stand upright.

When they passed in the crowd, Berwald relayed curtly the information on the rooms they had so that they could find their way. Then, assured that Aleksander would take good care of their captain, Berwald focused his efforts on Tino. Despite appearances the sniper could cause a lot of damage in a hand to hand fight. He was small, but he was fierce and not unwilling to play dirty if he had to. So Berwald wanted to avoid a fight. He approached the heated argument cautiously; glare steely as he looked back and forth between the two mismatched men. As he got closer he picked up more of the conversation until he could properly hear what they were shouting.

"I'm no cheater!" Tino screamed, and prodded his finger into the other man's large chest. "You put that money down, you agreed on the bet now you have to pay up! I won fair and square!"

"I ain't paying one single credit!" The man argued, his voice somewhat slurred. He was leaning heavily on the bar, holding onto it with both hands to keep himself upright. And behind him stood two other equally dangerous looking men who looked ready to intervene on their friend's behalf should Tino start a fight. "Ain't no way you drank all them shots and're still standin'!"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Tino demanded.

"I sure's Hel am! A liar and a cheater! Tryin' to cheat me outta my money!" the drunk snapped back.

Berwald saw Tino's hand twitch toward his hip and his brows furrowed in concern. He knew what was hidden there - the two small automatic pistols - and without knowing how drunken Tino really was he could not say for certain whether or not it would be a problem. Better safe than sorry. He stepped up to the two men and set his large hand heavily on Tino's smaller shoulders. With how Tino was kneeling on his barstool he actually came to about the same level as Berwald. Not knowing what to expect, but angry at having been touched and interrupted during his argument, Tino turned, his face angry and ready to spit curses at whoever was there. But those words died on his tongue and the anger melted from his face when he saw Berwald. Of course, he misinterpreted the large man's look of concern for one of anger and immediately withered under the stare.

Though Tino shrunk back like a scolded child, his adversary did not seem at all phased by Berwald's harsh glare. "What's this? The little _ergi_ needs his boyfriend to come save him?" the burly man sneered.

Tino's head whipped around, immediately, the full force of his anger bubbling up to the surface again. "What did you call me?" He demanded furiously.

"You heard me, _ergi_ ," the drunkard repeated, obviously "Too much of a coward to fight your own battles?"

"Bastard!" Tino's voice was like hellfire as he launched himself at the other man, or tried too, but Berwald stopped him from doing any thing more than punch the larger man in the face by wrapping his arms around Tino's chest and lifting the little Finn bodily off his seat. That one punch had been enough to bloody the man's nose, though.

" _Äitisi nai poroja! Kusipää!_ " Tino raged and kicked out at the man even as Berwald began dragging him away. "Let me go, I'm going to kill him!" he demanded, struggling futilely. Berwald latched his arms tightly around the smaller man, his grip up by the sniper's armpits to keep him from reaching the guns at his waist. " _ _Kyrvännuolij_!_ " Tino continued to shoot off what Berwald could only assume to be rather colorful curses as the engineer dragged him kicking and screaming out of the pub.

Berwald did not release him until they were out of the bar and Tino had calmed down enough so that he was no longer struggling so violently against Berwald's hold on him. " _Perkele!_ " Tino growled angrily as he was set back down on his feet and released. Immediately he went over to the wall and kicked it as hard as he could, then immediately regretted the action as pain shot up his leg, causing him to hiss and hop on one food for a moment, and then pretend nothing was wrong. "What a fucking waste of time," he muttered. "No money and not even a cute guy." He did not notice Berwald's cheeks turn pink for a short moment.

Slowly Tino turned around and looked back at Berwald, who had been watching patiently through the whole of the smaller man's tantrum. Tino blushed when he realized that the engineer had seen and probably heard everything he had just done and said. "Sorry," he murmured, once more feeling like a scolded child under the tall man's stern gaze. "Let's go back now."

Berwald only nodded silently and began walking, leading the way down through the corridors to the rooms he and Eiríkur had acquired. They had only been walking for a short time before he noticed that Tino was lagging behind. Stopping, Berwald looked back to see what the problem was. Apparently Tino was more drunk than he had let on previously, or the alcohol was just delayed in its effects. Now he was swaying a little on his feet, staring at the floor as he walked in an unsteady line. Immediately Berwald closed the distance between them in a few long strides and placed his hand on Tino's arm. "Y'alright?" he asked.

Tino looked up at him, surprised, and cowered a little under the tall man's fierce gaze. He might not have been able to walk in a straight line, but all his mental capacities were still intact and he was just as nervous around the large Swede as he always had been. "Maybe... H- had one too many," he admitted a little sheepishly. "I- I'm fine, though." He did not want to get scolded, and why was Berwald always glaring at him like that anyway? Surely the man hated him, and so he probably hated that he was stuck taking care of him now.

But Tino could not have been more wrong. Though to him the change that came over Berwald's face was growing anger, but it was actually concern. "C'mon," Berwald mumbled, and wrapped an arm easily around the smaller man, lifting him fully off the ground until he was carrying Tino cradled against his chest.

"Wh- what are you doing?" Tino exclaimed in surprise, horrified as he was lifted off the ground. "Y-you don't have to do this," he stammered, growing more frightened, "I'm fine, really. I can walk on my own. I'm sorry for slowing you down, you can just tell me where the room is and I'll get there by myself. You don't have to do this." He was rambling terribly, the words flying out of his mouth almost faster than his brain could process them and his voice trembled as he looked anywhere but at the man who was carrying him.

"S'fine," Berwald assured him as he continued walking, completely unaware of how terrified the body in his arms was.

Thankfully for Tino, their rooms were not too far away and Berwald set him on his feet before opening the door to one of the apartments. Tino hurried inside quickly as soon as the door had opened, not wanting to cause any more trouble than he already had. By now Berwald was probably furious with him. Inside, Eiríkur was already asleep on the sofa, snuggled amid the threadbare and flattened pillows with blankets and his jacket lain over him. Berwald made a mental note to thank him for leaving the bed open for Tino, who would probably appreciate it if he had a hangover in the morning.

"Thanks," Tino said softly so he would not wake the sleeping man, but he did not turn to face Berwald. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

"S'no trouble," Berwald assured him as he closed the door behind them. It cut off the light from the corridor and plunged the room into darkness except for the dim emergency lights that shone from the corners of the room. "You can take the bed," he said, nodding toward the piece of furniture. It was not a very fancy bed, but it was nicer and bigger than what they had on their ship. Big enough that it could probably fit two people without them being too uncomfortably close.

Tino looked at the bed, and then looked around the rest of the room. There were no other pieces of furniture big enough for someone of Berwald's stature to sleep on comfortably. "But what about you?" he asked, turning his gaze hesitantly back to the other man.

"The floor," Berwald shrugged.

"You can't, I've already caused you too much trouble," Tino argued.

Berwald shook his head. "You take the bed," he repeated, pointing toward the item in question. One night on the floor would not kill him and tomorrow they could work out better sleeping arrangements.

But Tino was determined not to put the man out any more than he already had. "I'm not going to sleep on the bed if you're going to sleep on the floor," he said stubbornly. "So… You sleep on the bed." Berwald shook his head again. Tino needed the bed more than he did right now to help avoid a hangover in the morning. The smaller man bit his lip. "Fine," he murmured and looked back over at the bed. "Well…. It's big enough for… for both of us," he observed.

Berwald was genuinely surprised by the suggestion. The dim lightly did not allow it to show on his face, however. He would have argued more, perhaps insisted on the arrangement he had planned, but this was a fair compromise and he did not want to risk waking up Eiríkur. And secretly he really liked the idea of getting to share a bed with Tino. "Alright," he agreed.

"Really?" Tino looked surprised, like he had not expected it to be accepted so easily, and he probably had not. Berwald merely nodded in reply and began getting ready to go to sleep. He moved over to the bed and pulled back the blankets, then bent down to remove his boots. It took Tino a while to react before, flustered, he began doing the same. Berwald stripped down to his white undershirt, stained with oil and grease in a few spots, and his pants before slipping under the covers. He made sure to face the wall and lay as close to the edge of the bed as he could. Tino only took off his boots and jacket and hung up his guns on a peg on the wall before climbing in himself. He also faced outward and tucked himself as far to the edge of the mattress as he could. It was uncomfortable in more ways than one, but none the less Tino was asleep only moments after his head hit the pillow.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ergi – an Old Norse insult that literally means "unmanliness" that was used to describe effeminate men in a derogatory way. Being accused of ergi was legal reason to challenge the accuser to a duel.
> 
> Author Notes: Thanks to my beta Narwhal123  
> Thanks to Tikadurmi and Ruusu for fixing my Finnish.


	4. Based on Legends

When Tino woke the next morning he was distinctly warmer and more comfortable than he remembered being when he had gone to sleep. A comfortable heavy weight rested across his shoulders and whatever he was cuddled against was emitting a fair amount of heat. At first, Tino was not certain he actually wanted to get up, he was so much more comfortable than ship beds usually allowed. He was warm, cozy. But the logical part of his mind wondered what had changed since he had gone to sleep. Then he remembered that he had gone to sleep in the same bed as Berwald. Instantly Tino's eyes shot open. It took a moment for them to adjust to the light – the lights were turned on now – and focus on the object in front of him. When they did he nearly screamed.

No more than a few centimeters from him was Berwald. His face shadowed by the overhead lights, but obviously still asleep. Tino had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from letting out any sounds of alarm. He knew he had a tendency to cuddle up to anything warm in his sleep, but he had thought that even his subconscious would be smart enough not to do that with Berwald. So that weight over his shoulders was, yes, it was Berwald's arms, and the warm object he had been cuddling against was his chest. Tino flushed bright red in embarrassment even though Berwald was asleep and probably completely unaware of the position they had gotten themselves into. But how did Tino get out of this without waking him up?

His thoughts swirled around so fast in his head it was making him dizzy. But as he stared at Berwald's face while trying to think of a way out of this situation, he could not help but notice something. First of all, Berwald was not wearing his glasses, which was not unusual, considering he was asleep, but without them his face looked softer. There were no shadows on his face cast by the thin rims and arms. And he was not scowling. Berwald's face was relaxed in sleep, his brows at a softer angle, his mouth not so stern. Cautiously, and unable to help himself, Tino reached up and let his fingers run over the lines of the other man's face. The tiny faint wrinkles on his forehead, between his eyebrows where there was no longer a crease from his scowl, the small dents on his nose where his glasses rested. Seeing him this way, Berwald was not so frightening. In fact he was rather handsome.

The large man's eyelids fluttered and Tino quickly pulled his hand away and began carefully trying to inch his way away from the warm body. But he did not make it very far before Berwald's eyes opened, the scowl returned to the man's face almost as soon as he opened his eyes and his stare bored straight through Tino. "I'm sorry," the smaller man squeaked in alarm, and quickly sat up, knocking Berwald's arm off his shoulder in the process. "I... sometimes grab things in my sleep," he tried to explain, and began getting out of bed.

"Good morning." Tino startled and turned to see Eiríkur approaching the side of the bed holding two mugs of steaming liquid and smelling of coffee. "Something you two want to tell me?" he asked, and Tino could not tell if he was joking or not.

"N-nothing happened," Tino insisted, quickly climbing out of bed and barely pausing to accept the mug that Eiríkur held out to him. "We just... shared the bed and... Sometimes I grab things in my sleep." He could feel his face heating up and quickly hid behind the mug, drinking down a large gulp of the steaming liquid, wincing as it burned his tongue on the way down.

"Right," Eiríkur replied, sounding unconvinced, which made Tino wonder if he had seen everything and then blush even brighter. "Well, Mathias and Aleks aren't up yet as far as I can tell," he commented. "So you can take your time getting ready. As soon as they're up we can go see Eduard, but I don't expect them to show up any time before lunchtime."

Berwald grunted in reply and Tino looked over his shoulder to see that the man was now up as well. The engineer sat on the edge of the bed, his hands cradling the second coffee mug that Eiríkur had brought them. He had put his glasses back on and the softness that had been in his face while he slept was gone. A part of Tino was sad, but most of him was frightened of that expression. Berwald must have been really angry with him. Tino turned around again quickly and took his cup of coffee with him into the bathroom.

* * *

As expected, Mathias and Aleksander did not show up at their doorway until Eiríkur, Tino and Berwald were finishing up their lunch. The meal had not been anything terribly fancy, some rehydrated meals from a hole-in-the-wall at the end of the corridor that called itself a restaurant. It certainly was not as good as what Berwald had cooked after their raid on the supply ship, but it filled their stomachs comfortably.

"You ate without us?" Mathias asked, horrified when he saw the empty cartons that littered the floor where the other three had eaten.

"We didn't know when you were going to show up," Eiríkur replied. "Though you might go get something yourselves."

Mathias pouted. "That's not nice of you. You could have at least left us some leftovers to eat."

"And you could always go down to the shop and get some yourself," the teen told him. He picked up a piece of paper and tossed it at the two men standing just inside the doorway. Aleksander caught it. "There's a menu, go feed yourselves if you're hungry, it's not my job."

"We did eat already," Aleksander replied, and set the paper menu back down on the arm of the sofa. "This glutton just likes to complain. Are you all ready to go?"

"I think so," Eiríkur replied, and turned his gaze to Tino and Berwald.

"Yes!" Tino chirped and hopped to his feet, running over to the peg on the wall to get his jacket and strap on his gun belt. Berwald nodded silently and rose slowly to his feet, straightening out his clothing as he stood.

"Right then, let's get going," Aleksander turned on his heel and stepped back out the door. "Hopefully Eduard will have found us something useful."

"Something useful about a make believe treasure?" Mathias asked skeptically.

"He said himself he has heard rumors about its location and Eduard is not the superstitious type. If he believes in something then there's a good chance it's real," Aleksander reasoned.

"Eduard would never lie about this sort of thing," Tino insisted as he trotted up to the door and joined Aleksander outside their tiny apartment. The rest of them stepped outside as well and Eiríkur shut the door behind them, making sure it was locked so none of their few belongings would be stolen by the less-than-savory people that were usually found on the space station.

* * *

"Right on time" Eduard praised after opening the door and ushered the five men inside. This time his younger brother was nowhere to be seen. "I think I've got everything you'll need to become legendary treasure hunters."

"You mean you really found it?" Tino asked excitedly.

"Of course I did," Eduard was proud in his declaration. He quickly turned back and headed for his computers. Taking a seat, a quick press of a few buttons brought multiple pages of information up on the large screens. "Didn't I tell you? If it exists, I can find it."

"So what did you find?" Aleksander asked, pulling a chair up beside the hacker and taking a seat.

"I searched under multiple names, an item like this shows up in a whole bunch of different mythologies, so the information is really scattered. But this is what I was able to piece together." As Eduard spoke he navigated the cluttered screens with ease, pulling up the information that he needed as he spoke. "Tino and I know it as Sampo, you four might be more familiar with the term Grotti's Mill. I'm almost positive they're the same thing. Neither is really described in detail in legend, but they have the same properties. So if they aren't the exact same thing, then they are at least the same type of technology. Technology that has been around for a very long time, and wouldn't the government like to get its hands on it. The main thing it's credited with is being able to create gold out of thin air. We know that's a physical impossibility, but most of the accounts were written by rather primitive people who probably just didn't understand what they were seeing.

"Anyway. There have been a couple very recent rumors that a treasure like this is hidden in the ruins of Asgard. Problem is no one really remembers where Asgard is and even if they did I doubt something like this would be left around where you could just walk in and take it. We know the Aesir were highly technologically advanced and built their things to last. They wouldn't want something like this getting into the wrong hands, so it would be under lock and key.

"In fact, I was even able to find an old legend about that," Eduard announced rather proudly and flicked to another screen. "We know about Sampo because it was used by humans at some point. The story is that the Aesir gave these things to a few humans back on Midgard, and that is why it shows up in so many different cultures, but then they took it back at some point later because they thought the devices were being abused. And they probably were, come to think of it.

"Now, the story says that when the Aesir took back all of these things they locked them up so that no human would be able to get them ever again. At least no single human. But they did not destroy them, because they thought they could be put to good use. Maybe they thought one day we would become less selfish and use it for the good of mankind, but obviously we didn't reach their standards before they died out. To make sure that no human could get this thing and use it only for their own gain, they put it in a safe with four locks, and gave one key to each race in the galaxy. So the Humans had one key, the Trolls had another, the Dwarves had one, and the Aesir themselves. This way the safe could only be unlocked when all the races cooperated with each other.

"If you can get those keys, you can get into the safe, and then the device is yours, easy as that," Eduard turned back around and offered a smile at the five pirates that graced his presence. "The trouble is getting the keys," he concluded, "And finding the safe."

"How hard could that be?" Mathias asked.

"It depends on how willing people are to hand over those keys," Eduard replied with a shrug. "If you get the other three and get to Asgard all you have to do is find the safe and find their key and then you're home free. It's the other three that will be a problem."

"So where are the other three?" Aleksander asked.

"One is with the Trolls on Jötunheimr. One is with the Dwarves and Svartálfaheim. The Human held one was a little trickier, but best I can tell the last record of it is being sent to a monastery on Muspellheim for safe keeping, but that planet is no longer inhabited," Eduard replied.

"And what about the location of Asgard?" Eiríkur asked, "Do you know where that is?"

Asgard, homeworld of the highest race of beings in the galaxy, the Aesir. It was practically legend, and there were plenty of people who did not believe it existed. Those same people usually did not believe that the Aesir had existed, though the evidence was all around. When, millennia ago, the advanced race had visited Midgard, they had bestowed some of their knowledge upon the humans there, and that was what turned them from timid explorers who had yet to leave their own solar system, to the galaxy crossing pioneers they were today. But very few had ever been to Asgard and returned to tell about it. And then the Aesir had died out, gone extinct, or so they had been told. And because no one had heard from them since, everyone assumed it to be true.

"No one has been there for ages and the records keeping back then was abysmal," the hacker shuddered at the thought. "But I can at least tell you what system it's in. They didn't bother to write down any coordinates, but some old world pilot was nice enough to leave a journal entry describing the system in detail. It's behind the Hrimthurs asteroid belt."

"You mean I'll have to fly through that thing?" Aleksander sighed in annoyance.

Eduard only shrugged. "Or go around it."

"That would take nearly a year from any of the planets where the keys are," the pilot huffed a bit.

"Well, I never said it was going to be easy, but you're the ones who want to go treasure hunting," Eduard shrugged.

Actually it was only Mathias who wanted to go treasure hunting, but no one said anything. It was unlikely they would be able to deter their captain anyway. At least he was no longer interested in breaking into highly secured government research facilities. "So all we need to do is get these keys and legendary treasure falls into our hands?" Mathias was grinning from ear to ear as he ran over the plan in his head.

"I guess you could put it like that," Eduard replied, though a little hesitantly. "If you get all the keys you will, hypothetically, be able to open the doors to the temple and, theoretically, the treasure is just sitting inside waiting to be claimed. Whether or not that is actually the case is anyone's guess."

"Okay," Mathias was willing to cede that this was all mostly here-say and legend passed down by word of mouth, none of it was hard fact. But that made it all the more enticing to the excitable captain. "So how do we know what the keys are when we find them? I mean, Muspellheim and Asgard are abandoned, so we just have to go pick them up."

"None of the legends describe them," Eduard informed him solemnly. "They could look like old fashioned keys or modern electronic ones, or they might not look like keys at all. It's impossible to say."

"That complicates things," Eiríkur murmured.

"As though they weren't complicated enough already," Aleksander sighed. "Traveling to four different planets to collect unidentifiable artifacts that may or may not even still be there, to open a temple that may or may not still be intact for a treasure that may or may not have even existed in the first place."

"Sounds like an adventure!" Mathias said enthusiastically.

It certainly would be. There was no arguing that. "So..." Tino could not help asking just to be sure. "Does this mean that we're going to do this?"

"Of course!" Mathias enthused. "Weren't you all the ones who wanted to learn about this in the first place?" he pointed accusingly at his crew. "And now you don't want to do it?"

"It is preferable to the suicide mission you wanted to take us on before," Aleksander reasoned. "But not by much."

"But think of the honor! The prestige! The... the sheer awesomeness we will get if we do this!" Mathias was clearly much more excited about this than he had been only an hour ago. "We'll be legendary! We'll be famous!"

It was pretty tempting. There was not a person in the universe who did not, deep down inside, want to be remembered throughout the ages. Aleksander shared a look with the rest of the crew. Tino nodded, Berwald shrugged almost imperceptibly and Eiríkur sighed but nodded as well. "Alright," Aleksander relayed the agreement, however unnecessarily. It wasn't like they had anything better to do.

The rest of the day was spent planning out the specifics of the trip with Eduard's help. They plotted the shortest course from planet to planet, which was still obscenely long. Aleksander estimated that, if they were able to travel at top speed the whole time and stopped only a single day on each planet to locate and obtain the necessary key it would still take them nearly ten months to reach Asgard. And that was a best case scenario. More realistically, Aleksander predicted they would be out for at least a year.

And that estimate left them with another problem: supplies. Supplies were hard to come by when you were a pirate vessel that worked under the radar. They could not rely on cargo ships happening to cross their path often enough that they would be able to steal all that they needed. They would have to stock up while they were in port, which would put a serious dent in their collective credit amount. And they were not exactly overflowing with money as it was.

But going broke was better than starving to death or getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. So while Aleksander continued the plot out their course with Eduard and learn what they could about each of the planets, the others went off to stock up on anything they might need on the expedition.

* * *

Mathias took Eiríkur and all of their current credits with him to go hunt down some decent food and water supplies and sent Berwald and Tino off to pawn the things they did not need. Tino, needless to say, was not entirely pleased with the situation. He still felt incredibly awkward about what had happened between him and the imposing engineer that morning – and possibly during the night as well.

And so Tino trailed behind the taller man, trotting to keep up with his longer strides but feeling too shy to ask him to slow down. Berwald carried with him the satchel he had brought off the ship, the contents of which Tino still was not certain of. It looked heavy, but Berwald carried it as though it was no trouble at all.

The two made their way down to the lower levels of the space station, down from where the more sophisticated outlaws like Eduard lived to the realm of the less savory. If the black market could be said to have an actual location, this would be it. As their surroundings changed from the neglected but relatively nice corridors of the upper decks to the more crowded and much dirtier corridors below. Tino stayed closer to Berwald. It was not that these people scared him, he knew he could take any of them in a fight. At least a one-on-one fight, though probably not unarmed. But Tino hated the crowds. And he hated how the people here, criminals all of them, and the worst sort, always looked at him the way an animal looked at its prey. He did not like that they all looked at his small stature and assumed he would be an easy target. And it was times like these that someone like Berwald came in handy. The engineer's mere presence was more than enough to turn away most of those stares. He stood taller than almost everyone that they passed, head and shoulders taller than Tino already, and one sharp glare at anyone who so much as looked at them wrong sent people quickly out of their way.

Tino may have been just as intimidated by that stare, but he was confident that Berwald would never do anything to hurt him, so in a place like this it was actually comforting to have the man around.

Berwald lead the way through the market, Tino close to his side now, no longer lagging behind. The engineer knew where they were going and Tino was happy to let him lead the way. On their way they stopped at a few stalls where Berwald prodded at machine parts that Tino could not recognize. He would pick some up and look them over, and then put them down again and continue on their way, unsatisfied with whatever he saw. Eventually they arrived at a small stall where the man behind the counter greeted Berwald as though he knew him. He was a curious looking man, with short hair that stood straight up in defiance of gravity and a small scar on his forehead. He was smoking something from a long pipe that hung from between his teeth as he grinned at them.

"Ah, my favorite customer," the man smiled and leaned on the counter. He looked past Berwald and seemed disappointed that only Tino was accompanying him. "Mathias not with you today?" Berwald shook his head and the man shrugged. "Oh well, tell him to stop by if he has the time. What do you have for me today?"

Berwald looked over at Tino, who stared back a moment before realizing that he was meant to offer up the military file, and then flushed in embarrassment as he stepped forward quickly and handed the metal folder over to the man. "Wooo, what have we here?" The man took the file in one hand and took the pipe from his mouth in the other, setting it down in a small ash tray beside him. "Military specs?"

"Classified," Berwald pointed out. "Took forever t' open the lock."

"I can imagine," the man whistled lowly in appreciation as he opened the folder and looked over the papers within. "This is some pretty serious stuff. What do you want for it?"

"What d' you wanna pay?" Berwald asked.

"Three thousand?" the man offered.

Berwald shook his head. "Five," he countered.

"Thirty-five hundred," the man offered again.

Berwald shook his head again. "Five thousand."

"You still don't know how to bargain, I see," the man rolled his eyes and looked carefully at the file. "Have you even looked at this? Who's going to be able to use something like this? I'll give you three seventy-five."

Berwald shook his head once more. "Government'll want it back, at least. Fourty-seven."

The man sighed and stared at the file long and hard before speaking up again. "Forty-three and not a credit more."

"Deal," Berwald agreed with a curt nod, and stuck out his hand to shake on the deal.

"Good," the man grinned and tucked the folder under his arm and picked up his pipe again. "I'll get your money then." He did not wait for a reply before turning around and disappearing into the back of his little storefront. He would not have gotten a reply from Berwald anyway.

Tino had watched the whole exchange quietly, curiously observing the way the two men argued with each other with barely a word being spoken. He had never been involved in the bargaining for the things they needed to buy on the rare occasions they came to the Chariot. Tino was not very good at haggling and people usually tried to take advantage of him.

The man emerged from the back of his ship and handed a plastic card over to Berwald. "You'll find all forty-three hundred on there," he assured. "Check if you want, but I am a man of my word and you know where to find me if you find it at all lacking."

"'M sure it's fine," Berwald replied, and handed the card over to Tino, who slipped it into his pocket for safe keeping.

"I'm glad to hear that," the man smiled, and then his gaze slid down to the bag Berwald was carrying. "Anything else in there for me?" he asked.

"S' not for you," Berwald shook his head.

"Ah, well then, I'll let you be on your way. Pleasure doing business with you, as always."

Berwald grunted his reply and nodded his head before turning away. Tino bid the man a quick farewell before falling into step behind Berwald again. They had few other stops to make, that one had been the most important. But Berwald stopped at another stall to pawn off a couple pieces of broken machinery to be scrapped for raw materials, which were hard to come across on this side of the galaxy. The last stop he made surprised Tino, though. Instead of another questionable storefront, Berwald lead him down a narrow corridor lined with unlabeled doors. The engineer did not say a thing, and so Tino began to grow a little concerned about where they were heading. The further into the bowels of the ship one traveled the worse the people were. And Tino was already uncomfortable as it was.

Finally the narrow corridor opened into a larger space, an open area that was a crossroads of sorts. The space was vaguely circular, and surprisingly large. Other corridors branched off from it, some as narrow as the one they had traveled down, others larger. In the middle of this space a small group of children was playing. This was what surprised Tino most. He had known there were children here, like Eduard's younger brother, but they were so rarely seen that he usually did not think about it.

Berwald walked straight up to the group of kids, and when they noticed him their eyes lit up and they ran over to meet him. Tino hovered by the corridor they had come down, feeling like he was intruding on something, but continued to watch the man. The kids spoke with Berwald for a while and seemed to want him to play with them, but the engineer shook his head. He took something out of his bag and handed it to one of them, but Tino could not see what it was. Then he turned back around and headed back to Tino, passing the smaller man and heading back down the corridor without a word.

Tino followed, equally silent but much more curious than he had been before. There were a lot of questions that he wanted to ask, but he was too afraid.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asgard – Home of the gods in Norse mythology.  
> Aesir – The term used to denote the principle gods in the Norse pantheon. In this context (and for simplicity's sake) applied to the entire pantheon.
> 
>  **Author Notes:** Thanks to my beta, Narwhal123  
>  Thanks to Tikadurmi and Ruusu for fixing my Finnish in the last chapter.


	5. Into The Fire

Their days on the Chariot space station were limited. Now that they had a plan, a mission, a goal, there was no reason to linger longer than they needed. No reason except to enjoy the rare chance to sleep in a proper bed and interact with different people. Still, the five men of the Hofvar stayed at the space station only five days before bidding farewell to their friends who called it home and climbing aboard their ship again.

Mathias was sad to go, but excited to start off on their new mission. As they packed their new supplies into the cargo hold he was practically bouncing with excitement. "Aleks, Aleks, Aleks," he chanted like an overexcited child as he stacked crates of canned food. "Where are we going first?"

"Muspellheim," Aleksander replied, his voice distinctively unemotional as he worked on strapping down the new cargo. "Although we'll have to take a bit of a detour to get there from here."

"What? Why?" Mathais asked, dropping a little bit in disappointment. It was obvious that he wanted to get on with this as quickly as possible. Like a child looking forward to a holiday.

"The straight line from here to Muspellheim takes us far too close to Hel," Aleksander explained. "And everyone knows that star is going to supernova any day now, so I don't want to be anywhere near it."

Mathias groaned and grumbled but he did not argue against Aleksander's reasoning, proving that he was not a complete idiot. He was disappointed that the trip would be delayed, but willing to do so for the safety of himself and his crew even though the odds of the star exploding while they were within range were astronomical.

* * *

"We're approaching the planet," Aleksander's voice rang through the ship via the rarely used intercom. He only used it because he did not like having to shout the length of the ship to get his crewmates' attention. Not that one had to be particularly loud to be heard with the way sounds echoed around the small steel-sided vessel. In fact, Aleksander could hear his own voice come echoing back to him from the speaker in the galley. But really, someone on this ship had to have some measure of decorum. "Prepare for descent."

Atmospheric entrances were never pretty. No matter how fancy your ship or how skilled your pilot, it would always be a turbulent and uncomfortable few minutes. So when the announcement came, the rest of the crew hurried to find themselves a secure seat.

Jötunheimr was a lonely ball of red rock floating all alone in space. It was the only sizeable planet in orbit around a red dwarf star. At one point some hopeful missionaries had set up a small colony there, only a few buildings mostly build out of the planet's iron rich rusty earth. It was assumed that at one point it had been able to support life, but that time had long passed. While the atmosphere was still breathable, the planet had become highly volcanic and was much too unstable to live on. On top of that, because it orbited so close to its weak star, one hemisphere of the planet saw only day and the other only night, which was enough to drive any colonist crazy.

Aleksander brought them through the thick atmosphere as gently as he could, which still was not very gently. This ship rattled and whined as it made the descent through the upper atmosphere until finally they emerged into the smooth skies above the earth. His navigational controls pinged as they identified the planet and readjusted for surface navigation. With a few quick flicks of switches Aleksander brought them down to an easy altitude and began inputting the coordinates for the colony that had once graced the face of this forsaken planet. The computer pinged again after the coordinates had been entered and flashed a map up onto the screen. Aleksander followed it and began looking for a suitable place for them to set down.

* * *

The air that surrounded them very much resembled a pot of stew; steamy, thick, and hard to stir. It was stiflingly hot, particularly for men more used to the cold of space and the processed oxygen of a life support system. The atmosphere was thick and the light of the red dwarf filtered in a dull red, giving the whole place an uncomfortably monotone appearance. Mathias pulled uncomfortably on the collar of his shirt, trying in vain to get some air flow around his body. "God, we've only been here a minute and I already hate this place," he complained.

"Then shut up so we can get off this rock as quickly as possible," Aleksander griped without looking up from the device in his hands. It was a portable scanner. Essentially the same as the one built into the ship's computers, which was used to chart their course and identify anything within range, but much more compact. It was slightly larger than the man's hand, rectangular with a large screen and a few buttons. Aleksander fiddled with it, punching buttons and drawing lines across the screen with his fingertip until satisfied with what he saw. "That way," he announced simply, and pointed off to their left. "South."

"South?" Mathias whined. "South means hotter."

"Stop whining," Eiríkur grumbled. "Let's just get going. I want to get off here before the ship melts and we're really stranded."

The captain whirled around and stared at the teen with wide eyes. "Could that really happen?" he asked.

"Of course not, idiot," Aleksander sighed and rubbed his temples in annoyance. He had obviously had enough of their childish bickering, though, as he began walking in the direction he had indicated moments before without bothering to see if the others would follow. Eiríkur followed without hesitation, soon followed by Tino, the gunman adjusting the rifle slung across his shoulders.

Mathias floundered for a moment, then turned and pointed at Berwald, who stood stock still at the bottom of the stairs from the hatch. "Make sure my ship doesn't melt!" he ordered, pointing at the tall man before running off after his other crew members.

* * *

The four men trudged across the stifling landscape unhappily, though some more vocal about it than others. Mathias was not afraid to let his feelings known, as usual, complaining loudly at every chance he got and quickly stripping down to bare chest. Tino sympathized, though he was much too reserved to voice his complaints quite as vehemently. Eiríkur and Aleksander were no more comfortable than the other two, but as always they hid their emotions very well. Aleksander's face had the same blank expression as always, though occasionally his brows would furrow in concentration as he looked at something on the scanner in his hand or wiped sweat from his forehead and neck.

"Are we almost there?" Mathias asked, quickening his dragging steps just enough to reach Aleksander's side and look over his shoulder at the scanner. Though it would not do him any help, everyone knew he was useless at reading technical jargon.

"It should be just over that next ridge," Aleksander said, pointing ahead of them.

Mathias sighed in relief, "Thank God!" he whooped in triumph. "Next time park the ship closer to the thing we're looking for, will you?"

"I told you when we got here I landed as close as I could. This whole area is unstable," Aleksander explained for the umpteenth time. "The ship is too heavy to land on most of this planet. I wouldn't trust the ground not to collapse right under her. And you've made it obvious how much you don't want to be stranded here. I thought you would appreciate that."

The captain rolled his eyes and raked a hand through his wild hair, only slightly wilted by the humidity and his sweat. "Yeah, yeah," he replied. "I don't want the ship to melt. But I don't want to walk all this way, either."

"You could always go back and wait with Berwald. We don't need you here," Eiríkur told him.

Mathias pouted and Tino was amazed again by how easily the two brothers could throw insults out at the man who was supposed to be their commander. "Y-you don't know that," Tino said, attempting to smooth over the insult.

Aleksander scoffed. "This buffoon is only good at two things," he said, looking over his shoulder at Tino as he continued walking, "Drinking beer and getting into fights."

Tino found that hard to believe. It was true he had never seen Mathias do anything more productive, but there had to be a reason the other three men followed him. Tino was here because he had nowhere else to go, but he doubted that was the case for everyone on the ship. Aleksander was a skilled pilot, he probably could have gotten any job he wanted, Eiríkur should have been in school still, and Berwald could have made a decent living on any colony.

"Aww, thanks for worrying about me, Tino," Mathias grinned. "Don't let them get to you; I know they're both just jealous of my awesomeness." Tino did not believe that, either, but at least Mathias did not seem to be bothered by Aleksander and Eiríkur's snarky comments.

* * *

They trudged for what was probably little more than a kilometer, but it felt much longer in the sweltering heat and humidity of the volcanic planet. As soon as they reached the top of a low hill the ruins of the abandoned monastery came into sight in the valley below. The buildings were actually in fairly good shape, or appeared to be from afar, but the men were still cautious as they approached. This tiny settlement had only been abandoned for about a hundred years, but the rough tectonics of the planet that had eventually driven the settlers away had also done quite a bit of work on the structures.

Almost all of the roofs had collapsed in, which was easy to see from the vantage point at the lip of the valley where the four men paused a moment before heading down towards the small settlement. It could hardly be called a city, or even a town. A handful of buildings quaintly laid out and settled within a surrounding wall which had probably been entirely unnecessary even when this place had been built.

Aleksander, Eiríkur, Mathias and Tino approached the settlement at a point where the wall had collapsed. A long crack ran down along the ground, leading straight up to the collapsed portion, a tell-tale sign of exactly what was bringing these buildings down, and a grim reminder that it could happen again at any moment. So they needed to get in and out of here as quickly as possible.

Tino hopped over the rubble with ease, his left arm stretched out to the side to keep his balance while the other hefted the comforting weight of his rifle as he headed the exploration. It was seriously doubtful that there were any living creatures on this planet now, especially any that could do them harm, but better safe than sorry, as they said.

They made their way through the rubble in a winding path, avoiding as many of the unstable structures as they could, as well as any cracks in the ground. Without knowing where the exact fault lines lay on this planet, any one of those could be the weak point in the planet's crust. That was, provided this planet even worked by the same tectonic principles as they were used to.

Eventually they reached the main building. It had once been a church, with a wing attached for work, and a dormitory. This was probably the best place to start looking, they decided. The temple had once been a large structure. The largest in the settlement, with a vaulted ceiling and large windows. Now that ceiling was collapsed and the windows bare of any glass that may have been there at one point. Mathias hauled open the large metal doors wide enough for them to slip inside. Tino did so first to scope out the area and make sure it was safe. When he had determined no immediate threat the others joined him inside.

Picking their way through the remains of the collapsed ceiling, they approached the front of the temple. Along the walls could still be seen the faded frescoes of groves of trees and scenes from religious texts. It was a very eerie place, knowing that it had once represented the faith of its worshipers that they could start a new life in this place and flourish just like those painted trees. And now it lay abandoned and dead, the paintings a faded reminder that faith was not always enough.

At the front of the church stood a stone altar, stained with blood under the layer of red dirt that had settled atop it. Eiríkur paused to wipe some of the dirt off, then stopped when he saw the bloodstains beneath and quickly stepped away. Mathias walked straight up to the far wall, which had once been decorated with ornate carvings of trees with gilded leaves. Most of the gilding had been pried off, but the very highest ones remained where the fleeing residents had not bothered. Also settled into the wall was a carved door. It was this that Mathias was most interested in, and he attempted to pull it open, but it stuck.

"It's probably locked," Aleksander commented as he followed the other man to the wall and took a look at the door.

"Great," Mathias sighed. "Where's the Swede when you need him?"

"Back with the ship making sure it doesn't get eaten by a volcano," Aleksander replied without a second thought. "But this one doesn't look very complicated." He stepped back from the wall and looked over his shoulder. "Tino, if you wouldn't mind," he gestured to the lock on the door.

"Happily," Tino replied, and raised the rifle to his shoulder. He stood far enough back that the shot would do little more than break apart the locking mechanism and hopefully nothing else, but it was still quite close by the sniper's terms. The shot resounded through the otherwise silent atmosphere, echoing off the temple walls. When it hit its target the sound was almost as loud as the gunshot itself. Dust and small fragments of rock and metal flew into the air, making Mathias cough and wave his hand in front of his face to clear the air as he approached to see if the door would open this time. In fact, it was already open. The force of the bullet had not only shattered the lock, but caused the metal door to bounce open. Mathias pulled it open further and bent to peer inside the compartment.

Settled deep within the compartment sat a box. It was small and nondescript, which was surprising considering what it most likely held. Mathias reached in carefully and drew it out, dusting it off with his sleeve as he lifted it up to examine. "You think this is it?" he asked, turning the box over and over in his hands.

"It could be," Aleksander shrugged. "Open it."

Mathias did, fumbling with the tiny latch for a while before it finally popped free and he was able to open the lid. The hinges creaked softly from years of disuse. The other three huddled around him to see what would be revealed. Inside the box, settled on a bed of soft cloth sat the strangest thing any of the four men had ever seen. It did not resemble a key by any definition of the term, not even those old-fashioned mechanical keys that some buildings back on Midgard still used.

What sat inside the box was made of a substance that none of them could identify. It resembled a kind of carved stone and was completely clear like glass, but it was much too heavy to be glass. The strange artifact was shaped like a diamond, the edges of the diamond perfectly straight, but within a delicate latticework was carved and at the very center a perfect red sphere was clasped by the lattice and kept securely in place.

"Weird," Mathias murmured as he looked at the strange thing.

"Yeah," Tino agreed.

"Is it the key?" Mathias asked.

"It doesn't look like a key," Tino pointed out, rather unnecessarily.

To avoid having the inane conversation continue any longer, Aleksander pulled out his scanner again and pointed it at the strange artifact, hoping they might be able to get some information on it. The device beeped softly as it collected data, and then the screen went blank while it attempted to process what it had discovered. What appeared on the screen when the little machine was finally done was a reading of all the elements present in the object, and there were familiar ones but by far more abundant than any of those was the curious result of 'unknown'. "This doesn't even know what it's made of," Aleksander said in disbelief.

"Then it must be Asgard technology," Eiríkur concluded, taking the scanner from his brother to look over the readings himself. "Look, it's giving off weird energy readings, too," he added, pointing to another reading on the scanner's small screen.

"So it is the key!" Mathias grinned triumphantly.

"I guess it must be," Aleksander was forced to admit. There was no explaining what sort of strange material it was made out of or the energy it was giving off. At least not without a lot more in-depth study. That could not have been done right here if he wanted to, and he did not. The excitement of finding the ruins and the key had momentarily made them forget about the stifling heat and humidity. But now that was wearing off and Aleksander at least was beginning to feel it again. "If we get it back to the ship I can get Berwald to help me run a better diagnostic."

"Right," Mathias nodded curtly and snapped the little box shut, flicking closed the latch that held the lid in place and handed it over to Aleksander to store in the small satchel that hung from his shoulder and across his chest.

"Alright," Aleksander stored the box and his scanning device back in his shoulder bag and turned around. "Now lets get out of here before this whole place falls down around us."

But they had not walked more than a few dozen meters when the ground rumbled beneath them. Loose dust shook off the tops of the walls and a few small loose rocks tumbled to the ground with small clatters. The four men froze where they stood only a few paces away from the door to the temple.

"Was that an earthquake?" Eiríkur asked after a moment.

"I don't know," Tino replied, "I've never felt an earthquake."

None of them had, and they were not exactly eager for the opportunity. They quickened their steps as they left the temple and then practically ran through the ruins toward the crumbled wall where they had come in. Halfway there the ground shook again. Tino stumbled, almost loosing his footing, but managed to right himself. The tremor lasted only a moment and was not terribly strong. But it could have been the forerunner to a much larger quake and they did not want to be amidst these crumbling buildings if that happened. They made it out of the ruins at a run, wary of any crack in the ground.

Once free of the structures their pace slowed only slightly. They still had a couple kilometers to cover before reaching the ship again, but the prospect of a large earthquake, or worse a volcanic eruption, had them wanting to get off this planet as quickly as possible. As they ran, the tremors became more frequent and stronger, at one point knocking Eiríkur off his feet entirely, but the teen quickly picked himself back up after it had stopped and they were on their way again.

At the crest of a rocky outcropping the ship came back into view. Mathias spotted Berwald standing just outside, no doubt he had felt the tremors as well and was just as eager to get off this planet, and waved his arm enthusiastically to get his attention. When Berwald spotted them, he raised his own arm in greeting and climbed back onto the ship. By the time the other four had arrived and climbed aboard themselves he had already disappeared down to the engine room again.

When they were all inside Mathias hauled the hatch shut and made sure it was latched an sealed tightly. "Aleks, get us the Hel out of here. I don't feel like becoming lava today."

But Aleks was already ahead of him, moving toward the bridge with his brother on his heels to get them lifted up as quickly as possible. Another tremor shook the entire ship and Mathias had to grab onto the overhead pipes to keep from falling over. But this time the tremor did not stop after a short moment. It went on for nearly a minute before settling down.

"Aleks! Get us the Hel out of here!" Mathias repeated, his voice sharp and stern.

"I heard you the first time!" Aleksander snapped back as he strapped himself into one of the two chairs on the bridge and began flipping switches. Eiríkur threw himself into the copilot's seat and buckled himself in, securing himself and ready to provide what limited assistance he could if his brother needed it. The ship hummed as it came to life, vibrating gently as the engines came online, then the life support systems. And finally it lurched forward as the thrusters kicked into action and lifted the ship up off the increasingly unstable ground. "Hold onto something!" Aleksander shouted back to the rest of the crew, somewhat unnecessarily because all except Berwald were on the bridge with him. As the ship stabilized in the air Aleksander did not even bother to raise the landing gear before he slammed the thrusters onto their highest setting and sent them rocketing up forward and upward.

Tino clung to the back of Eiríkur's chair and Mathias plastered himself to the port window, staring at the ground that disappeared behind them as Aleksander brought them up toward the outer atmosphere. As Mathias watched, the ground below them cracked and slid, turning what had been their landing ground into unstable slabs of shifting rock. As they rose higher he could spot the ruins in the distance, but they were too far off for him to tell what was going on. Although he felt safe assuming that they were crumbling as well. He had never been so happy to get off a planet before.

"Geeze," the captain breathed in relief as he turned away from the window. "I'm glad we're out of there. Looks like we got here just in time, though."

"Your infallible optimism never ceases to amaze me," Eiríkur commented, looking over the back of his seat at Mathias.

The captain flashed him a grin in thanks, assuming the words to be a compliment. "Hey, Aleks, give me the key!" he said, heading back over to the others.

"I'm trying to fly the ship right now, if you hadn't noticed," Aleksaner bit back, still concentrating on getting them out of there. He flipped up the landing struts, but they were still not out of the atmosphere, and he would not feel safe until they were well out of range of this planet. Flying as fast as the in-atmosphere thrusters could move, Aleksander rocketed them upward toward the outer atmosphere while the land fell apart below them.

Leaving a planet was almost as turbulent as landing on one, though for an entirely different reason. It took all of the little ship's power to fight the gravity of the planet and burst through the outer layers of the atmosphere and eventually out of its gravitational pull. Only when they were floating gently in space once more did Aleksander relax his grip on the controls and slow them down. Perhaps it had been a bit of an overreaction, but none the less Aleksander felt relieved to be off of that planet.

"Wowee," Mathias whooped when the tension on the bridge began to dissipate. "Well that was exciting, wasn't it?" he asked, but received no answer. "I wonder if the whole trip will be this interesting."

* * *

The Hofvar's victory on Muspellheim was tempered by the danger they had only just barely escaped. There was also the fact that none of them were entirely certain that the item they had liberated from the ruins was in fact the key they were looking for. They did not want to return to that planet, though, so everyone just hoped that it was the right thing. And by the time they obtained the next one they would know whether they had the right thing or not. Until then, there was really no way to know. And that was, of course, provided they received the next key from someone who knew what it was and did not just pick it up off the ground as they had this time.

The mood on the ship was quiet and rather tense. No one really knew what to think. Should they be celebrating or should they remain hesitant about the artifact they had retrieved? It left everyone feeling uncomfortable, and that was not something that these men were used to feeling around each other.

Mathias took the artifact into his possession; locking it and the box they had found it in securely within the safe he kept in his quarters, along with a few other valuable possessions that the crew wanted to remain safe.

Mathias' quarters were by far the most secure part of the ship. In addition to the locked safe to which only the crew knew the combination, the captain had a hefty collection of weaponry. In numbers it rivaled Tino's gun collection, but was far less useful on a regular basis. If he had to fight, Mathias preferred hand to hand combat and his weapons were suited for that. Knives of various types and lengths made up the majority of the collection. These were the easiest to use, the easiest to conceal, and the most practical for most of the fighting he got into, which was generally in close quarters. Less frequently used but no less treasured in the collection were a long sword and an absolutely ancient battle axe. Both of these were so old fashioned that if he were to bring them into a fight he would probably get laughed at, but that did not stop him from making sure that they both remained polished and sharp just in case.

These weapons were practically the only thing in the captain's room besides a box of clothing and the locked safe. So the crew felt secure in storing any of their valuables there in the unlikely chance that the ship be boarded. Not that they actually had many valuables.

With the first key supposedly – hopefully – obtained, the Hofvar turned toward its next destination. They had quite a ways to go. In space nothing was close and there was no such thing as a quick trip. Certainly things were closer than they had been in the past with the speeds that new ships could reach, but it still took days to travel between even nearby planets. And they were crossing solar systems.

Anticipating nothing of excitement during this journey, the crew settled in for a long and boring ride. Something they were quite used to.

But things rarely go as expected on this side of the galaxy.

* * *

"ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!" Aleksander's voice sounded through the intercom so loudly that it reverberated off the metal walls and echoed around the cabin. But it certainly brought everyone to attention.

Eiríkur burst out of his quarters and immediately made his way toward the bridge where his brother was. "What's going on?" he asked in alarm as he slid into the co-pilot's chair and buckled in.

"That," Aleksander pointed out the main window, where there could be seen another ship floating gradually toward them. On this side of the galaxy it was unusual to come across another ship, and this one was still too far away to tell what sort it was, just barely close enough to be made out visibly as something other than a star or planet.

Mathias came bursting into the bridge moments later, his arrival heralded by the loud clanging of his boots on the metal catwalk as he ran up the spine of the ship. "What is it?" he demanded, pausing breathlessly in the doorway and looking back and forth between the two brothers with wide eyes. And then his gaze followed Aleksander's finger out the window to the vessel approaching them. It would probably reach them in only a matter of minutes and was rapidly growing as it neared. "What is that?"

"It's a ship," Aleksander replied, lowering his hands back to the controls.

"I can see that," Mathias snapped, concerned enough that even he did not want to deal with Aleksander's sass. "What kind of ship?"

"Can't tell yet," Aleksander shrugged his shoulders. "It's not a cargo ship or a passenger transport, too small. I can't make out the markings yet."

"Can't you scan it?" Mathias asked. The captain rested his hands on the back of Aleksander's chair as he stared over his head and out the window.

"I have, but the model is not in our database," Aleksander informed him.

"Something new then?" Eiríkur butted in, looking surprised as he turned to his brother.

"Must be. I had the systems upgraded when we were at the Chariot," Aleksander commented. And for once wished that they spent more time in alpha quadrant where government vessels like this were probably numerous. At least then they would know what they were dealing with. "Probably one of the first of its kind on this side of the galaxy."

They all knew what that meant. "Government?" Mathias asked.

"Probably," Aleksander confirmed solemnly.

"Fantastic," Eiríkur sighed. "What do we do?"

"Run away?" Mathias suggested. "We don't know what kind of weapons that thing has. We might not be able to fight back."

Aleksander shook his head, "They've already seen us. And they probably already know what we are. It's too late to run away now."

"Damn," Mathias bit out, and looked around. "Where's Tino? He needs to get his ass up here if we're going to fight. Tino!" he hollered back down the spine of the ship.

Now the ship was close enough Aleksander could almost make out the insignia on the side. But he did not need to be able to see it clearly to know that that was the crest and colors of the Midgard government. A blue flag with a white cross emblazoned the side of the ship, the colors of the Human home world, and beside it a gold shield crest; a sign that this was a police vessel.

Aleksander had to admire its design. If there was one thing that government ship designers were good at, it was making their vessels both functional and attractive. The sides were burnished silver, probably titanium steel, unless the scientists had discovered anything stronger or cheaper to build with. It was sleek, long and narrow without a single piece out of place. All rounded edges and hatches so precisely fit into the sides of the ship that they were nearly invisible. It was not much larger than the Hofvar, but it looked much more impressive than their old and rather run down little vessel.

The police vessel was probably fast and strong with more weapons than the out-of-date Hofvar possessed, and as soon as the crew saw that the Hofvar flew no colors they would be all over them like black on coffee.

It was only moments before that happened. "Two gun turrets," Eiríkur observed, leaning forward in his seat to see the ship as closely as he could. The Hofvar only had one. Already they were outgunned, and they were very much at a disadvantage not knowing anything about that model of ship.

"Shit," Mathias swore. And they watched those two gun turrets turned toward them. "Where the Hel is Tino? Aleks, don't let them hit us!"

"As though I would want to," Aleksander replied curtly, and gripped tightly to the controls.

The first of the gun turrets cocked and fired and the pilot jerked the ship out of the way, attempting as best he could to dodge the shots, but that ship was coming in closer. By now they knew that no one was manning the Hofvar's gun, and they were trying to get so close that they could not dodge. Although Aleksander guessed that the police ship had better maneuvering capabilities than they had anyway.

"Shit, fuck," Mathias swore again, nearly loosing his footing as he held onto the back of Aleksander's chair while the ship lurched to the side. "TINO!" he hollered again, turning to look back down the hall, but there was no sign of the gunman. Aleksander jerked the ship again and this time Mathias did loose his footing, stumbling and falling heavily to the floor. And from somewhere within the ship a siren began to sound. Loud and wailing; coming from within every speaker in the vessel as though it was trying to deafen the entire crew.

All three men paled in horror as they realized what that siren meant.

They were hit.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Muspelheim - one of the nine worlds in Norse mythology; the realm of fire.
> 
>  **Author Notes:** Thanks to my beta Narwhal123  
> 


	6. Ice Locked

The impact rocked through the whole vessel, vibrating through the walls and floor like an earthquake. Too focused on getting to his station as quickly as possible to defend them, Tino did not have time to grab onto something to steady himself. As the ship lurched sideways he stumbled, loosing his footing, and his arms flailed in vain to find something to grab onto. The little gunman prepared himself for a hard hit on the rough flooring, but it never came. Instead a strong arm wrapped around his waist and lifted him entirely off the ground. It was so unexpected it frightened him more than the fall had and Tino let out an embarrassingly feminine yelp of alarm.

But nothing bad happened. There was no pain except the discomfort of the arm around his waist holding him perhaps a little too tightly and Tino slowly realized that he was safe. He had been saved from what probably would have resulted in some nasty cuts and bruises, but the little tumble would hardly have been serious. Opening his eyes, Tino turned his head to see who had been quick enough to catch his fall, and was startled. Berwald's aquamarine eyes stared down at him, causing that familiar chill to run down Tino's spine.

But as Tino stared up at the larger man, whose fearsome strength had been enough to lift him off his feet as though he were no more than a sack of potatoes, he saw a flicker of emotion in those eyes that he had always thought so cold. Fear; concern. Berwald had been worried about him.

"Y'okay?" The engineer's gruff voice startled Tino out of his thoughts, but the small man could only nod an affirmation. Then he thought he heard Berwald sigh in relief. The tall man set him back down on the ground and his large hands were surprisingly gentle as they made sure that Tino was steady enough to stand and walk on his own.

"Th-thanks," Tino mumbled and straightened out his shirt. He just stared back up at Berwald for a long moment, and then another hit rocked the ship. But this time Tino was able to grab onto the wall and keep himself upright. The jolt knocked him back to his senses. He needed to get to the weapons station to defend the ship. "I have to go," he said quickly and spun around, heading down the hall at a run. Berwald watched him leave, and then began making his way back to the engine room.

* * *

With only one large gun the Hofvar was outgunned in the fight. It was a struggle, but firing in the void of space was easier than on any planet, where gravity and weather played a part in the trajectory of the shot. And Tino never missed a shot when those were an issue.

But his first shot at their attackers did miss this time. Though Tino would claim it was by no fault of his own. It seemed the other ship was more maneuverable than he had thought. It was not making things any easier to have Aleksander pulling the ship this way and that dodging enemy fire. His next shot found the other ship's tail, causing a pretty little hole to open up in the hull. A few seconds later there was a lull in the onslaught of weapons fire from the other ship. Aleksander was able to stop jerking them around while he dodged and Tino lined up his gun.

When Tino shot a weapon at an enemy he turned into a completely different person. Those smiling lavender eyes turned cold, his smile faded and his brow furrowed in concentration. His cheek pressed against the barrel of the gun as he sighed down the barrel, not trusting the accuracy of the computer aiming system that someone had so thoughtfully installed at one point. Computers malfunctioned, programs glitched. Tino's eyes never lied to him, they always showed objects exactly as they were, exactly where they were, and told him exactly when to pull the trigger.

A slight squeeze and the kickback thrust Tino's little body into the back of his seat. Still his eyes never left his target. Not until he saw the shot hit home, just where he had placed it in his mind. Perfection. But the small amount of satisfaction he always felt when a shot hit target was belayed. The shot had hit, but it had done no damage. Instead, when then blast hit the other ship it sent a shock wave around the other vessel like ripples on the surface of water after throwing a rock. " _Perkele,"_ Tino bit his lip and fired again, but the result was the same.

"Shields!" the gunman strained his spine as he twisted around to shout back down to the others in the bridge. "They have shields!"

He heard cursing come back up from below and the ship lurched again as Aleksander pulled them out of the way of another attack. The sudden movement rocked Tino in his seat and he hung onto his gun for stability. Worried, he waited for further instructions. There was nothing his gun could do against shields; it simply was not powerful enough. Just as he was beginning to worry that he hadn't been heard, Mathias' face appeared at the hatch, staring up at him.

"Keep firing! Aim for the engines," the captain ordered curtly. "Eiríkur's trying to find a gap in the shield. We might only have a second to get through."

Tino nodded and turned around again, pressing himself up against the weapon and focusing all his attention on the target. He fired, feeling the butt of the gun slam back against his chest and shoulder each time. He hardly paused between shots, not giving the enemy a chance to regain their balance before hitting again, each time with perfect precision. Even if his weapon could do no damage it hit with enough force to shake up the ship a bit.

He could feel a bruise beginning to form from the recoil. Each shot hurt a bit more than the one before. And then he saw it. A flicker. Barely noticeable. "Whatever you just did, do it again!" Tino shouted and pulled the trigger again three times in rapid succession, not even giving the gun time to cool down before firing again. The shield flickered again for half a second and one went through. The government ship lurched and Tino could see the results of his marksmanship when the dust cleared. A scuff and a small hull breach. It was not much, but he would take what he could get at this point.

"Great job!" Mathias appeared at the hatch again. "That should slow 'em down, so keep us covered while we get the Hel out of here!"

"Yes sir!" Tino replied curtly.

Aleksander pulled the ship around as quickly as it could so they could get away from their attackers. The force of the turn nearly knocked Tino out of his seat, but he held fast to the gun and turned along with it, firing back at the government vessel as they headed away from it at top speed. The ship fired back at them, but with the hull breach in their engine room they were dead in the water. Tino fired until they were completely out of sight, and only then did he relax his grip on the trigger and lean back in his seat with a sigh.

* * *

"Shields!" Mathias was saying when Tino climbed down from his perch. "They've never put them on police vessels before!"

It was true. The technology for deflective shields like the one that ship had been sporting was still new, too experimental and too dangerous to put on anything so important as a police vessel.

"They must have perfected the technology," Eiríkur mused. It was both a good and a bad thing. Shields like that were something all pirates wanted, but they did not want to face down government ships decked out in the technology without having it themselves.

"But you managed to put a hole in it, right?" Tino spoke up. "So maybe it's not perfect."

"No, there are probably a few bugs," Aleksander agreed. "Which we were able to exploit this time, but they'll no doubt be fixing them. We'll have to do some real research on these new craft when we're back at the Chariot."

* * *

"We need ta land somewhere," Berwald announced after climbing out of the belly of the ship after the firefight. He appeared at the door to the bridge and startled the others with his sudden presence.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Tino asked in concern.

"Mm," Berwald nodded and wiped some grease from his hands off on his pants. "She didn' like the heat on the last planet. 'N' we took some shots in the fight."

"So what?" Mathias asked. "Can't you just fix her up like you always do?"

Berwald shook his head. "Need ta cool 'er down for a while. Best ta shut her off entirely and take a good look at everythin'."

Mathias made a face that showed he was clearly unhappy with this assessment. Tino frowned in concern, afraid that the captain would demand they continue on despite the engineer's advice. The captain placed his hands on his hips and stared across the room at Berwald and Berwald stared right back with the same fearsome expression he always wore. The two stared at each other for a long moment, and then Mathias threw up his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright; we'll touch down on the next habitable planet, okay?" Berwald only nodded and turned around to head back down to the engine room.

* * *

The next habitable planet showed up three days later on Aleksander's radar and he immediately changed course so that they could land. From above the planet was not much to look at all white and blue, swirling clouds covering much of the planet's surface. It orbited surprisingly far from its mother star, on the farthest bounds of what was generally considered the habitable zone. So it was no surprise that they emerged through the clouds to find the ground before them covered in ice and snow.

"Niflheim," Aleksander identified it as the navigational computer once again adjusted itself to function within the atmosphere of a planet. "Uninhabited." So they would not have any interruptions while Berwald worked on their vessel.

Aleksander set them down in the middle of a snowfield. The landing struts settled deeply into the white powder so that the ship's belly rested nestled into the top layer of snow. When the hatch opened the ramp fell down and carved a divot into the powder.

Everything was white as far as the eye could see. The snow covered ground stretched out endlessly in gently rolling drifts and hillocks. Even the sky was white with clouds, only small patches of blue sky breaking through to allow the sun to shine down and warm the frostbitten land as much as it could. In the distance there was a hint of vegetation, snow covered trees of some sort, probably well adapted to growing in such a cold environment.

Tino happily ran down the ramp and out into the snow, his heavy military boots crunching a trail of deep footprints into the virgin landscape. He stopped a few paces away from the ship and bent down to pick up some of the snow in his bare hands. He packed a snowball and tossed it up in the air, catching it as it fell back down, but it fell apart as soon as it hit his hands.

"Having fun?" Eiríkur had joined him out in the snow, his hands tucked deep into the pockets of his coat and the collar pulled up to keep his neck warm. None of them really had proper cold weather clothing.

"Yes," Tino smiled happily as he bent down to pack another snowball. "I love snow," he commented happily. "It snowed a lot where I grew up, but I haven't seen it since it was a kid." And he was having a grand time regressing back to his childhood. "Do you like snow, Eiríkur?"

The teen merely shrugged. "It's alright," he replied. And then found himself with a face full of snow. By the time Eiríkur had wiped the snow off his face – and gotten it out of his coat – Tino was already running away. The small man ran a short distance and then turned around to see if Eiríkur was following him. Not yet. Then he made a face and stuck his tongue out at the younger man. That was it. This was war.

Aleksander and Mathias watched the pair chase each other about in the snow, throwing hastily made snowballs at each other, but even Tino missed his target half the time. He was apparently much better with a gun than with his arm. It almost looked like Eiríkur was winning for a while, until Tino caught up with him and stuffed an entire handful of snow down the back of his coat. Eiríkur's shriek could be heard all the way back at the ship as he reached his arms back and hopped about like some kind of disturbed flightless bird while trying to get all of the snow out of his shirt. Tino laughed so hard that he doubled over and eventually sat down in the snow. He was still laughing fit to paralyze when Eiríkur recovered and got his revenge by dumping an armful of snow on top of the prostrate man. Tino stopped laughing immediately and hopped to his feet, doing his own strange little dance while he dusted the flakes off of himself and made sure none of it had gotten inside his clothing.

"They look like they're having fun," Aleksander observed, and there was a tiny, almost imperceptible, smile on his features as he watched them. Mathias smiled when he saw this. He was happy to see Eiríkur out doing something childish, too.

"They are. Snowball fights are awesome," Mathias agreed, not voicing what was truly in his thoughts.

"You can go join them if you want," Aleksander informed him without taking his eyes off of his younger brother.

"And leave you here all by yourself? You'd be lonely," Mathias grinned cheekily at his companion.

Aleksander scoffed. "I would not. Besides, Berwald's here if I wanted any real company."

"Even worse," Mathias laughed, "That's like talking to a wall."

"I find it more enjoyable than talking to you."

"So mean, Aleks," Mathias pouted, pretending to be offended but not doing a terribly good job. "People would think you didn't like my company at all."

"I don't," Aleksander replied, his voice so devoid of emotion it was hard to tell whether he was even being sarcastic.

"That's not what you said last night," The captain grinned and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Aleksander's cheeks turned red and he punched the taller man in the arm, but Mathias only laughed it off and trotted off down the ramp to join the two playing in the snow.

* * *

Mathias, Eiríkur and Tino returned to the ship wet and shivering but grinning. They trotted down the spine of the ship and into the galley, leaving wet footprints in their wake and shedding the outer layers of their clothes. The galley was the warmest part of the ship other than the engine room that sat right below it, so it was the best place for the three men to warm numbed toes and fingers. Dripping coats were discarded on the table along with damp socks after boots had been removed.

After rubbing the life back into his reddened fingers, Tino filled and started the coffee pot. The coffee was made weaker than he would have liked, but they had to ration the beans or fear running out entirely. And that would have been worse than running out of food.

When wet clothing had been removed and the coffee maker was dripping away productively, they camped out on the most comfortable seats. Mathias, as always, settled in his "captain's chair" with his feet propped up on the table. Eiríkur and Tino went to sit on the sofa, but as soon as they sat down called over to them in a voice entirely louder than it needed to be to go across the room. "Tino, go check on Berwald," he ordered.

"What?" Tino had just sat down and did not want to get up again so soon. "Why me?"

"Because I said so," Mathias replied, as though it was obvious.

"I don't want to," Tino complained.

"So? You're not doing anything except waiting for the coffee, go see if the Swede's made any progress."

"We've only been here a few hours, what could he have done in that time?" Tino asked.

"I don't know," Mathias shrugged. "Just go."

Tino sighed in annoyance and stood up again. He snatched his boots back up and slipped them on his bare feet but did not bother lacing them before he stomped out of the room. Stupid Mathias, he grumbled as he made his way to the ladder that led down into the engine room and cargo area of the ship. Tino did not come down here often, not unless he had to, really. This was where Berwald spent the majority of his time, and that was the main reason Tino avoided it. He was getting more used to the imposing man, but he still did not feel entirely comfortable around him. Being with Berwald always made him feel awkward, small and weak; and Tino did not like any of those feelings.

So it was with great reluctance that he made his way down the ladder to the lower deck of the ship. It was rather a long climb, or it felt like it to him. While the main deck of the ship was only barely tall enough for a man of Berwald's height to stand up in without risking hitting his head on anything, the lower level was much taller in order to accommodate the engine.

Tino was slightly relieved when his boots hit solid ground again, but only slightly. As he stood at the base of the ladder he was facing the wall with the engine room to his right and the cargo hold to his left. The little Finn took a deep breath before he turned around and stepped up to the door of the engine room. It was left open, as it always was, but he still felt terribly shy of entering. What if he startled Berwald and the man hurt himself? What if he messed up some delicate work? But Tino tried to ignore these worries as he knocked on the doorframe and peeked inside.

Within the engine room it was like a whole other world. Wires and cables and tubes and pipes and all manner of things, most of which Tino could not even name covered nearly every surface, all the walls and the ceiling, and down the center ran the main portion of the engine itself. Everything was metal and grease and bizarre contraptions and overall a very alien world to Tino.

He did not see Berwald when he poked his head inside, and did not receive a reply to his knock. So he knocked again, and this time called out, albeit softly. "Berwald?" There was still no reply, and Tino frowned slightly. The engine was not on, so there was no sound to drown out his voice. But apparently Berwald was not in the engine room. But if Berwald was not in the engine room then where could he be?

"Tino?"

The small man actually jumped in surprise. He had been so lost in his worries he had not heard anyone come up behind him. Spinning around, he braced his arms on the doorframe and looked up to meet the stern gaze of the tall engineer. "B-Berwald!" he stammered in alarm.

"Sorry," the man mumbled back, and Tino noticed that he was holding something in his hands, something metal that looked like a machine part. Probably a part that needed replacing that he had gotten from the cargo. "Did ya want something?" he asked.

"Um… Oh, yes," Tino stammered and tried to regain his composure. He fidgeted and tugged his clothes straight. "Mathias wanted me to check on you. So, um… Is everything going well?"

" _Ja_ ," Berwald replied with a curt nod.

"Oh, good," Tino replied, and continued to fidget.

They stood in silence for a moment, until Berwald spoke up again. "'Scuse me."

It was then Tino realized he was still standing in the doorway, and quickly hopped aside, feeling embarrassed. "Sorry!"

"It's alright," Berwald mumbled in reply and stepped through the doorway.

Tino watched him pass and then turned to peek into the engine room again. "So, what are you working on?" he asked shyly. Though he did not understand single thing that he saw in the engine room, he had always been kind of curious about how it all worked.

Berwald paused and turned back around. For a moment Tino thought he might get angry, but instead he just asked, "Ya wanna see?"

"If you don't mind," Tino amended quickly. He did not want to get in the way and was worried that his presence might annoy the engineer.

Berwald shook his head and motioned for Tino to follow him into the engine room. He led the smaller man down one side of the main engine, carefully cradling the part he had retrieved in his hands. He stopped about halfway down the narrow aisle, squeezed between machinery on either side. Tino felt cramped in here, and he could not help wondering how a large man like Berwald was able to spend so much time down here and not get claustrophobic.

"This's part of th' exhaust system," Berwald informed him as he held up the piece in his hands. To Tino it just looked like a pipe with a funny valve on one end, but he trusted that Berwald knew what he was doing. After all, the man had kept them in the sky safely the entire time Tino had been on this ship, and presumably before that. "It goes in there," he pointed through a tangle of wires and tubes to where a very similar looking pipe ran along the wall behind everything else.

"How do you get to it?" Tino asked, because there did not seem to be an easy way to reach it.

Berwald just shrugged and took a wrench of his belt. There was no way his arm would fit through there, Tino could not help thinking, but the mechanic simply stuck his hand right in. Of course now he could not see what he was working on, but that did not seem to stop him. With his eyes locked on another part of the engine entirely he worked by touch alone to take off the old piece and a few moments later his hand reemerged from the depths of the engine with a piece identical to the one he had just retrieved. Identical, but much dirtier.

"What exactly is it?" Tino asked curiously.

"Part of th' exhaust," Berwald repeated. "Filters emissions into the air purification system," he elaborated after a moment. "See here?" he pointed into the pipe with one finger and held it up for Tino to see. What he had initially thought to be a valve of some sort he could not see was actually a thick and very fine filter. "Th't catches all th' oil 'n bits 'n gunk that come off th' engine so it doesn't get into th' air."

Tino nodded in understanding. It sounded like a very important part, and it looked very dirty, so he was glad that Berwald was replacing that filter so their air would remain gunk free. Berwald set the dirty piece down on the floor and then took the new one and thrust his arm into the tangle of mechanics once more to fit it into place. This took him a while longer than it had to remove the old one, but eventually his hand emerged again holding nothing but the small wrench. It had all looked very simple, but Tino doubted he would have been able to do it properly even if given all the necessary tools. "Where did you learn to do this?" the small man asked.

Berwald looked over at him as he dropped the wrench back into his tool belt and wiped his hands off on a rag that was hanging there. "Taught m'self," he replied.

"Really?" Tino asked in surprise.

Berwald nodded. "Always thought machines were fascinating, used t' take stuff apart when I w's a kid just t' see if I could put it back t'gether."

"Could you?" Tino questioned.

"N't always," Berwald replied. "B't that was how I learned."

"That's really neat, though," Tino smiled up at the other man, "So you've always known that you wanted to do something like this?"

Berwald only shrugged again. "What 'bout you?" he asked. "Y'don't look like th' military type."

Tino laughed a little, feeling sheepish. "No, I guess I don't," he replied. He was short; he was not very strong physically; he was rather feminine. "My father taught me to shoot when I was a kid, for hunting. Though there wasn't much of anything to hunt on our colony. But he always said that's what fathers and sons were supposed to do together. And I was always really good at it because my eyes are really good. And then I didn't get very good marks in school, so I decided to join the military because it seemed like the only kind of job I could get, and they trained me properly, but then... Well... Then I messed that up as well.

"Ah, but I'm sorry," Tino quickly waved his hands in front of his face and tried to change the subject. "I didn't mean to bore you with my whole life story. What's this do?" he pointed to a random piece of the engine machinery.

"For coolant," Berwald replied. He did not think that Tino was all that interested in learning how the engine worked, but it was obvious that the other man did not want to talk about his past even though he had brought the subject up. Tino nodded and pointed to another piece of the engine, again at random, and again Berwald answered him with no hesitation. This continued, with Berwald explaining the function of various parts of the engine while Tino listened raptly whether or not he was actually interested or actually learning anything. But Berwald did not mind. It was not often that Berwald had company down in the engine room. In fact, he almost never had company. Sometimes Mathias came down to annoy him, Aleksander sometimes came to see the state of the ship he flew, but more often than not Berwald was on his own. It was nice to have company, especially company like Tino's.

Over a year after the sniper had joined their crew and Berwald still had a small crush on him. Actually, it was becoming a large crush. He had watched the small man at every opportunity, limited as they were with how isolated the engineer usually was. He knew that Tino had an amazing eye for marksmanship, that he cared for his guns as carefully and meticulously as Berwald did the engine of the ship, that more than half his wardrobe was too big for him and, of course, that Tino was absolutely gorgeous when he smiled.

Tino, for his part, did not hate this as much as he had thought he would. As Berwald talked he forgot about his discomfort and the claustrophobic atmosphere. Really, the tall man was still imposing, but he was not as frightening as Tino had thought him to be. He was very kind to be entertaining Tino when he most likely had much more important things to do, like whatever else needed to be done to the engine. But instead he was walking around, showing the smaller man all of the obscure parts and telling him how the ship worked. And it was actually a lot more interesting than Tino had expected. Having known next to nothing about how ships like this worked, he was fascinated by everything, by how the relatively simple engine kept everything on this ship running, from the life support to the weapons array.

"I should let you get back to work," Tino said after a while. He had completely lost track of time and had no idea how long he had been down in the engine room. By now he wouldn't be surprised if the others were wondering where he was.

"Don' mind," Berwald replied, "Like the company,"

Tino smiled a tiny bit. "I guess you get lonely down here by yourself, huh?" he asked. It was not something that had crossed his mind before, but while he was able to spend most of his time on the main deck with the company of the other three crew members, Berwald was stuck down here alone making sure everything ran properly. "Well, maybe I could come visit you sometimes," he offered, "If I wouldn't be in the way."

Berwald was surprised. "Y'wouldn't be in the way," he replied.

"Really?" Tino looked up at Berwald, his violet eyes wide. He did not think it would be hard to be in the way in this tight space.

"O'course," Berwald nodded.

Tino smiled wider, that same smile that made Berwald melt a little inside. "Then I will come down and see you sometimes," he decided. "And if I ever get in the way you can kick me out. I don't want to mess up anything in here." A smile quirked the corner of Berwald's lips, and it was the first time Tino had ever seen such an expression cross the man's face. It was only a tiny change of expression, but it did wonders to soften his features. And Tino could not help but return the smile as brightly as he was able before he trotted out of the engine room and headed back to the main deck.

* * *

"You were certainly down there a long time," Eiríkur observed when Tino returned to the galley. Mathias was missing now, though his wet clothes still draped over the table, one corner of his coat dripping slowly onto the floor.

Tino shrugged as he kicked of his boots again, which were beginning to become uncomfortable as he wore them without socks. "I got distracted. Aww, you drank all the coffee," he moaned when he saw the little pot had less than one cups worth on the bottom.

"You snooze you loose," Eiríkur told him. "Got tired of waiting for you to come back and it was getting cold anyway. What were you doing down there?"

"I was just talking to Berwald," Tino replied, and grumbled to himself in Finnish as he began filling the machine again with grounds and water to make another pot, this one he was determined to get at least two cups out of.

"Talking to Berwald?" Eiríkur raised an eyebrow curiously as he watched the other man.

The sniper shrugged again. "Yeah, well… His company's not as bad as I thought it was."

"Right…" Eiríkur did not sound as though he believed him, but Tino decided to ignore that for now. He had enjoyed spending time with Berwald, so what did it matter what the others thought.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Niflheim - In Norse mythology a world of perpetual ice, frost and perpetual night. Home of the Hrimthurs, or frost giants.  
>  **  
> **  
> Author Notes:  
>  Thanks to my beta, Narwhal123  
> And thanks to all my lovely reviewers.


	7. Onward and Upward

The maintenance that Berwald had to do on the ship was taking longer than anticipated. At least, it was taking longer than Mathias, Aleksander and Eiríkur had anticipated. It might have had something to do with how Tino kept disappearing down into the engine room for hours at a time to distract the engineer from his work with idle conversation.

Tino realized this after a few days and so made a conscious effort not to distract the engineer any more. Because while he was rather happy with the planet they had decided to set down on, the others did not quite share his love of the cold weather. On the fifth day of their stay, instead of heading down to spend a few hours with Berwald when he became bored, Tino took up his rifle and some empty bottles and cans from their garbage and set up a make shift shooting range for himself. Two crates from the cargo hold were dragged out into the snow and set up a fair distance from the ship, and atop them Tino lined up the empty bottles and cans in as straight a line as he could. Then he walked away, counting his paces as he went. Twenty, fifty, one hundred steps; that was far enough for a warm up and if it proved too easy he would go back another hundred.

The small-statured sniper set down his rifle and box of ammunition and began digging out a comfortable place to lie down. A small trench fit his body, and a little ledge of snow propped up his rifle. Tino stretched out along the ground and pressed the butt of the rifle up against his shoulder, resting his cheek against the side as he lined up his sights with the first empty bottle.

His actions were performed with a bare minimum of movement. Ammunition into the barrel of the gun, the chamber snapped closed, safety off, cocked, primed and ready for firing. Tino took a deep breath, relaxing into his little trench as he stared down the length of the gun, sighting his target without the use of anything more high tech than a small piece of iron. And then finally he pulled the trigger. The recoil from the rifle pushed back against his shoulder, rocking him backward slightly, but Tino barely noticed it. He was focused on the items at the other end of his make-shift shooting range and listening for the sign that he had hit his target. It came after the crack of the rifle, a ping of the bullet hitting the empty tin can and he saw it fly off the crate.

Then the sniper discharged the spent bullet casing, cocked the gun and fired again. Beside the empty spot where the can had stood moments before, an empty beer bottle shattered into a hundred pieces as it was pierced. Casing discharged, gun reloaded, aim, breath, fire. All the actions happened in rapid succession with very little movement from the part of the gunman, and in only a few moments the line of bottles and cans on the upturned crates had completely disappeared. Around those crates the previously flawless snow was now scattered with dented tin cans and shards of glass from shattered glass bottles.

When the targets had all disappeared Tino picked up his gun and tucked the empty casings into his pocket. He was pleased with this little practice. It assured him that he was not out of shape, that his eyes and his trigger finger were still as steady as they had always been. And while he would have liked to practice for a while longer, his ammunition and the items he could use for targets were limited, so he would have to let that be it for now. Slinging the rifle back over his shoulder, Tino traced his footprints back through the snow. He would have to bring the crates back into the cargo hold so they could be reused, but the cans and glass shards he left where they were to be buried in the next snowstorm.

* * *

Tino was dragging the first of the two crates back up the ramp that had been formed by the door to the cargo bay opening and settling into the snow that surrounded them when Berwald spotted him from within the engine room and he stepped out to help him. Tino heard the man's footsteps approaching and looked up.

"D' you want help?" Berwald asked when their eyes met.

"No, I can do it," Tino assured him with a quick nod. "I've done enough distracting you from your work already."

"I don' mind," Berwald assured him and stepped forward to take the crate anyway.

Tino hesitated a little nervously, "No, really. The others are getting kind of impatient, and I feel bad because I know it's my fault. I'm keeping you from working every time I come down, so I'm not going to distract you any more while we're here."

"Oh," was all that Berwald could say. He had not been aware that it was causing trouble, though he knew it was taking him longer than usual to perform the routine maintenance that the engine required after all that the ship had been put through in the last few weeks. But he had gotten used to Tino's presence and the smaller man's cheerful voice. He would be lonely again if Tino stopped coming down to see him.

Tino nodded and then offered the man a smile. "So you get back to work, I can do this myself. Don't worry."

"Alright," Berwald eventually agreed. He wanted to help Tino with the heavy crates that he was obviously struggling with, but if Tino insisted that he did not want help, then Berwald would leave it be. He turned around and headed back into the engine room to get back to work.

After all, he had already wasted enough time watching Tino shoot cans off the top of those crates from the small window in the cargo bay.

* * *

Berwald finished the repairs to the engine on the seventh day since their landing on this planet. When he climbed out of the bowels of the ship to announce that they could be on their way again, Mathias whooped with joy, unable to contain his happiness. They had all become rather bored and complacent over the course of the stay. Shore leave was only fun when it was not freezing outside, although Tino had greatly enjoyed the snow and the fresh air. Mathias had complained about it and Aleksander and Eiríkur spend most of their time inside the ship rather than venturing out into the cold white outside. It was probably because none of them had proper winter clothing, otherwise venturing out into the snow and the below freezing temperatures would not have been so bad.

"Alright, let's get going then!" Mathias said when Berwald announced that his repairs were done. "I'm ready to get off this rock."

But Aleksander looked out the window thoughtfully and then shook his head. "It's almost nightfall, we might as well stay down here for one more night and leave in the morning."

"What?" Mathias whined. "But we've been here a whole week already. I want to go."

"You've been here a week. I think you can wait a few more hours," Aleksander replied. "Besides, while we've all been sitting around doing nothing, Berwald's been working. Don't you think he deserves a break, too?"

"What?" Mathias rolled his eyes and scoffed at the idea. "He hasn't been working the whole time; he's been doing whatever down there with Tino half the time. That's enough of a break, I think."

"We were just talking," Tino argued, feeling embarrassed for reasons he could not understand. "While he was working. It wasn't a break at all. Why can't he have one night off? It won't hurt anyone to stay here one more night."

"It hurts me," Mathias replied. "It's boring here. It's too cold to go outside and there's nothing to do on here, as usual. I want to get somewhere it's exciting. The Swede doesn't need a break; he's like a robot anyway."

"You're such an ass sometimes, Mathias," Tino frowned and glowered at the man. Their captain, though he rarely acted like it. "Stop being so selfish. Berwald deserves time off just like the rest of us. You can't just constantly have him working, how would you like it if someone treated you like that?"

"Why would anyone treat me like that?" Mathias asked, as dense as ever.

Aleksander slapped him on the back of the head. "Tino's right. You're a selfish idiot."

"Ow!" Mathias complained and rubbed at the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"For being a selfish idiot," Aleksander repeated. "Say whatever you want, but I won't be flying this ship until tomorrow morning because I want to spend one more night sleeping on solid ground. So unless you feel like flying this thing yourself, which you know you can't and I will kill you if you do, we won't be leaving until morning."

Mathias had lost another argument to Aleksander. This was not surprising, it happened all the time. But it surprised Berwald that Aleksander had argued in his favor. Even Tino had stuck up for him against Mathias. Berwald was not used to that. He was used to being largely forgotten and overlooked by his crew mates. This was a pleasant change.

But while Mathias grumbled and slumped down in his chair unhappily, Berwald was not actually sure what to do with his evening of freedom. He remained where he had been, standing by the door to the galley, at a loss for what to do. Tino saw this, saw him standing there befuddled, and hopped out of his seat. "You haven't been outside yet, have you, Berwald?" the small man asked as he walked over to him. "It's really pretty, come on," he grabbed the larger man's arm and began pulling him toward the hatch. And Berwald followed him silently.

After all those hours sitting in the engine room talking about everything and nothing, Tino was no longer intimidated by the tall man and his intense gaze. Berwald was not mean, nor was he someone to be frightened of unless you made him angry. Tino was still convinced that he could do some serious damage if he actually got into a fight, but he realized that he had never actually seen the engineer get angry. Berwald was kind and gentle, and actually rather shy, which Tino found extremely endearing.

Tino dragged Berwald out into the snowy landscape beyond the confines of their ship. Once they were outside he released the taller man's arm and happily trotted a few steps away, enjoying how his boots crunched in the powdery snow. They were lucky enough not to have been caught in any storms while landed, but a few gentle snowfalls had dusted the top of the ship with snow and made sure that there was always fresh powder for Tino to play in. And play he did. He found the cold refreshing, invigorating, and he loved to tromp about in the fluffy powder right after a snowfall.

This time while Tino entertained himself, Berwald just stood by the ship and watched. It was not the first time he had watched Tino playing in the snow on this planet, though it was the first time he had done so openly. He thought it was adorable, the cutest thing he had ever seen, to see Tino so easily reduced to a playful child each time he stepped out into the powder. And he was happy just to watch, though happier the few times Tino had pulled him into his games briefly, until the sun began to sink below the horizon, then he motioned for the small man to come back and together they went back inside to warm up with a pot of coffee and some reheated cans of soup before heading back to their respective quarters to sleep. And all the time they were oblivious of the curious stares they received from their crew mates.

In the morning, as planned, the ship was locked up airtight and they set off on their journey again. They left behind them only some litter and a patch of flattened snow that would be gone as soon as the next major snowfall came to the planet.

The small reprieve had been nice, but the five men easily fell back to their usual routine. Aleksander sat on the bridge plotting, planning and tracking their course, often with Eiríkur at his side. Mathias migrated between the galley and the bridge, where he was generally in the way until thrown out. Tino hung around the galley, where he used the large table to lay out all the tiny pieces of his weapons as he took them apart and then put them back together all while nursing a cup of weak coffee. And Berwald was out of sight and usually out of mind down in the engine room, keeping an eye on various gauges and readouts while performing maintenance as needed.

And everything was fairly normal, as far as these men were concerned, as their ship floated leisurely through the vastness of space toward their next destination, and closer to their destiny.

* * *


	8. The Trolls

Jötunheimr was actually a very nice planet. Significantly nicer than the last two they had stopped on. From the sky it was blue and green, with oceans and forested lands, high mountains and valleys with swift flowing rivers and crystal clear lakes. It was very much like Midgard, actually, similar in structure and climate, with vegetation and fertile land able to support the establishment of farms. Expectedly, it had become home to a number of large Human settlements. Humans had been occupying this planet for decades and expanded quickly across its surface. It was easy to settle in and took little effort to start up a small farming community in one of the fertile river valleys. In only a few decades Humans could have covered most of the planet, and yet they remained in their settlements, expanding only when needed. This was due to Jötunheimr's native residents.

The Jötun were not an aggressive people. So long as they were not disturbed they were happy to let the Humans go on with their lives peacefully. But if they felt that their territory was being infringed upon, they became an unstoppable force. This was something that the first colony had learned the hard way, when their expansions had moved too quickly and grew too close to the mountains the Jötun called home.

Trolls, most Humans called them. The Jötun were large and terrifying creatures, not advanced beyond stone tools and still living in caves. They had difficulty understanding and speaking Human language and so negotiation with them was extremely difficult. They kept to themselves in their mountain homes and the Humans did likewise in the lowlands and together they managed to coexist. But it did not take much to incite the Jötun to anger. Parents of children in the Human settlements warned their children away from the mountains lest they bring the wrath of the Trolls down upon them; they were told if they were naughty the Trolls would come in the night and steal them away up into those same mountains because a Troll's favorite food was Human children.

It was not long before the Trolls gained a reputation of being Godless, witless brutes that would kill a Human for the fun of it. They had transformed in the minds of the Humans from the gentle mountain creatures that they were to horrible monsters just waiting for the chance to do something heinous. It was not surprising that most of the crew of the Hofvar believed those same myths.

"Really, they aren't that bad," Aleksander argued as he brought the ship into a slow cruise over the green lands of the planet after coming through the atmosphere. "They don't like strangers, but with the way they've been treated by the Humans here it's hardly surprising."

But Mathias was still convinced that they would all be killed on sight when they tried to approach the homes of the Trolls. "What are we supposed to do, then? We're obviously strangers, and I don't feel like being crushed with a rock today."

"You're all strangers, sure, and they probably wouldn't like it if some random Humans came into their town and started asking questions," Aleksander replied. "Most Humans wouldn't even like it if some arrogant schmuck of an offworlder came walking into town like he owned the place."

"So what do we do then?" Mathias asked, completely missing the obvious insults to his person.

"Eiríkur and I will go," Aleksander replied simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What? No way!" Mathias argued. "I'm not letting you go in there to get killed by those things."

"They aren't things," Eiríkur argued, looking annoyed, "And we won't get killed."

"They know us," Aleksander continued where his brother left off. "We grew up here."

Mathias stared at them incredulously. "So? Isn't it the people here who warned everyone else about the Trolls? They'll probably hate you most of all."

"They're called Jötun, not Trolls," Eiríkur grumbled.

"Most of the people, sure," Aleksander stared out the window of the ship as it glided gently high over the treetops. "But they know me and Eiríkur. They won't hurt us."

"How do you know that?" Mathias asked.

"I just do," Aleksander finally snapped.

Eiríkur sighed and rolled his eyes. "When we were kids we got lost in the woods and wound up in the mountains somehow. We were really little and one of the Jötun found us."

"And they didn't eat you?" Mathias stared at him with wide eyes.

"Obviously," Eiríkur commented flatly. "Of course we thought they would at the time. But the Jötun took us back to the village and took care of us. I'd hurt my ankle at some point while we were lost and they treated it and kept us warm and fed until Aleks and I could leave, and then they showed us the way back home. They aren't dangerous, they're just very wary of strangers."

"And we used to spend a lot of time with them before we left the planet. That's probably why our parents moved, actually. So, there, you see. They won't hurt us, they're our friends," Aleksander replied. "Eiríkur and I will go in on our own and you and Tino and Berwald will stay here and wait. That's the best way. I'm fairly certain the Jötun have no use for the key, if they even really know what it is. If we ask nicely they'll probably hand it over with no trouble. They aren't using it and if they don't know what it is then they won't have any problems parting with it."

"And what if they don't recognize you?" Mathias asked. "I mean, you haven't been here since you were kids."

"I can speak their language. And no matter what you've been told they don't kill on sight," Aleksander replied. "I just need to talk to them."

Mathias still was not convinced. "Can't you at least take Tino with you?"

"No," Eiríkur shook his head. "They'll see his guns and then they really will kill us on sight. They'll think he's come to do them harm."

"What about the Swede, then?" Mathias asked. "He looks scary enough to frighten off a Troll."

"We will be fine, Mathias," Aleksander said, his voice tinged with annoyance. "We did this all the time when we were kids. I don't think it will be any harder now that we're grown up as long as we're cautious about the whole thing."

Mathias grumbled. He obviously still was not happy about this plan, but he did not voice any further complaints. He was at least smart enough to know when he had lost an argument; though it was not often that he won an argument against Aleksander.

Aleksander set them down at the base of a mountain, where the presence of their ship would not offend any Trolls and far enough from the closest Human settlement that they would probably go unnoticed by them as well. He had one more brief argument with Mathias, who attempted again to convince him not to go alone – although Aleksander was not alone, he had his brother with him, the pilot had argued – but ultimately and inevitably lost that argument as well.

And then Aleksander and Eiríkur were off. They left their ship mates behind with little more than a curt farewell and carrying nothing more than a small shoulder satchel with an old fashioned compass, a bottle of water and a hunting knife. Although Tino had attempted to press one of his smaller guns on them it had been refused.

It was not long before they disappeared from sight amidst the trees that grew on the mountain slopes and all that the remaining crew could do was wait. Mathias was impatient. He paced and grumbled and ranted and it was all Tino could do to keep him from going after them while trying to convince the captain to sit down and just try to keep calm. Berwald was oddly present on the main deck, which was actually helpful in keeping Mathias occupied, because while the captain was busy pretending not to worry about Aleksander and Eiríkur – but mostly Aleksander – he was insulting the engineer. Usually this would have upset Tino, but right now he had to let Berwald's self esteem suffer for the greater good. It was more important to keep Mathias from doing something stupid.

They waited for nearly an entire day. When the sun began to touch down on the horizon it was becoming nearly impossible to restrain Mathias. The captain would not sit down for anything, and had given Berwald a bloody nose the first and last time they had tried restraining him physically.

But just as the captain was proclaiming his final plan to go forth and rescue their two stray crew members – but mostly Aleksander – the two appeared through the trees, walking leisurely back toward the ship as though they had not a worry in the world.

Mathias, who had clearly feared that they had been captured and eaten by the Trolls, deflated immediately. But that did not stop him from running out to meet them halfway to the ship and grab them both by the shoulders and demand to know that they were unharmed, which they were. Aleksander, of course, brushed off his worry without a second thought, while Eiríkur grumbled about how annoying it was in the stubborn but flattered way that teenagers do. And they were both ushered back onto the ship quickly where they would be safe to tell everyone what had happened, as Mathias put it.

"How did it go?" Tino asked as Aleksander and Eiríkur were ushered inside by their captain, looking rather disgruntled as they let the other man herd them back onto the ship.

"It went fine," Aleksander replied as they walked down to the galley and he flopped down onto the sofa.

"Do we get to hear about it?" Mathias was the only one willing to ask directly, though Tino and Berwald were equally curious about what exactly had gone on with Aleksander, Eiríkur and the Trolls.

"There's not much to tell," Eiríkur replied, taking a seat beside his brother on the sofa, as he usually did.

The others were disappointed to say the least. They wanted to hear about the Trolls and the adventure that they had all imagined Aleksander and Eiríkur had had. "Nothing at all?" Mathias asked, pouting unhappily. "They didn't try to kill you or eat you or anything?"

"No," Aleksander sighed and shook his head. "I told you they are actually quite peaceful. All we had to do was talk to them."

"That's boring," Mathias sighed. He had wanted to hear a story of bravery and daring and, doubtlessly, have a reason to coddle Aleksander for the next few days. "Did you get the thing?" the captain asked, and that disappointment disappeared in moment as his eyes went wide with excitement now that the worry had worn off.

In response, Aleksander merely reached into the small bag they had brought with them and withdrew a small leather pouch. Mathias, Tino, and Berwald watched in anticipation as he opened it with what must have been purposeful sluggishness. Then, from within the leather pouch he withdrew, hung on the end of a long leather cord, an intricately carved diamond of that same unknown material identical to the one they had picked up on Muspellheim save the spherical gem in the center, which, in contrast to the red gem found on Muspellheim, was a deep emerald green.

"Wow," Mathias breathed, and reached out to take the artifact from Aleksander so he could look at it more closely as though to ensure that it was in fact the same thing that as the other piece. "Guess we did get the right thing on Muspellheim, huh?" he grinned and turned the artifact over in his hands.

"It would seem so," Aleksander replied.

"Awesome," Mathias turned his never failing grin on his four companions. "You know what this calls for? This calls for a celebration! How much alcohol do we have left?"

* * *

They had a fair amount of alcohol left, enough for five men to get decently drunk on, at least. Mathias broke out their mismatched cups and three of their last bottles of vodka. He poured all of them a nearly full cup of the deceptively clear liquid and then raised his own to propose a toast. "We're halfway there, boys!" the captain announced with a triumphant grin. "Two keys down and two to go! And then we'll be rich and famous! So let's just hope that the next keys come as easily as these first did!"

That was definitely something they all hoped for, so the toast was had amidst the clinking of glasses and sloshing of overfull cups.

"And here's to Aleksander and Eiríkur," Tino raised his cup after taking a long swig, "For making this one so easy. Without you we probably would've had a lot more trouble."

"Here here!" Mathias agreed, and clinked his glass against Tino's with enough force to cause both of theirs to slosh over onto their hands. This did not seem to bother Tino, though, who merely lapped the stray drops from his fingers before taking a proper drink.

Amidst Mathias' overzealous toasting and both his and Tino's healthy appetite for alcohol causing them to run their cups empty before the toasts were through they made it through the first bottle of vodka quickly. Eiríkur was beginning to show the others that he had very little tolerance for alcohol. He slurred his speech slightly after only a few drinks and looked as though if he were to get up from the sofa he might not be able to stand up for very long. This was an endless source of amusement for Mathias, who kept trying to get the teen to turn his head quickly in order to watch him waver dizzily as he attempted to focus on a new spot. Eventually, Aleksander tired of watching this game and took the cup from his younger brother and hoisted him to his feet, practically dragging the young man back to their room to put him to bed. He returned to the galley a while later to help finish up the second bottle.

Tino had a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol considering how small he was. He claimed it was because he was Finnish, and therefore had some sort of inherently better alcohol tolerance built into his genetics, but the others just assumed that he had much more experience drinking than most people of his stature. But even with this, he was starting to show signs of true drunkenness by the end of the second bottle. He and Mathias had undoubtedly had more to drink than any of the others.

When Mathias could no longer even sit upright in his chair and spilled more vodka than he managed to get in his cup when he tried to refill it, Aleksander decided that he had had enough and it was time for them to go to bed. Though by now he was fairly well smashed as well. So his attempts at helping Mathias were not terribly successful and together they staggered out of the galley, miraculously not running into anything on the way.

That left Tino and Berwald alone to clean up the residue of their little celebration, which included one broken bottle that had fallen onto the floor, a significant puddle on the table from various spillage throughout the night and of course their five cups and the two other empty bottles.

Tino placed his hands on the edge of the table as he pushed himself to his feet. "Woo..." He smiled a little as he wobbled in a wave of dizziness. "I'm a little drunk," he announced more to himself than to Berwald. Ignoring this, though, he picked up his empty cup and two others and began attempting to make his way to the sink to put them inside to be washed later. But halfway there he tripped over his feet and stumbled, falling against Berwald, who instantly caught him to keep him from falling. "Oops," Tino giggled softly. "Sorry."

"S' okay," Berwald assured him, and stood up, helping Tino back to his feet as well, then taking the cups from him to put in the sink.

"Berwald, are you drunk?" Tino asked, staring up at the taller man.

"'f course," Berwald replied, looking back down at him. Maybe not quite as drunk as Tino, but he was most certainly drunk. His cheeks were flushed slightly and his glasses were no longer sitting straight on his face.

"Good," Tino grinned, and grabbed onto the front of the man's shirt. "I'm really drunk," he informed the engineer.

"I c'n see," Berwald replied, with a hint of humor in his voice that Tino did not manage to catch.

Tino stared up at him for a long moment, those violet eyes boring a hole through Berwald in a way that probably would have made the engineer uncomfortable if he had been sober. Thankfully he was not sober, and neither was Tino. "You know," the sniper mumbled as he continued to stare at Berwald's face. "You're not actually that scary. You're just always glaring at everyone." Tino reached up with one hand and poked Berwald right between his eyebrows, just above where his glasses sat. "You shouldn't scowl so much. You'll get wrinkles."

Berwald stared back at him in surprise, but did not say anything. Tino was not waiting for a response though, and the smaller man just continued talking when he did not receive one. "Why're you always glaring anyway?" he asked, and let his hand drop back down to Berwald's chest. "You'd be much handsomer if you didn't look so angry all the time. Not that you're not handsome. Actually you're still really hot even when you are glaring, it's just a little off putting, you know?"

Berwald did not know, and honestly had no idea how to answer either of Tino's questions. He was not particularly aware of his constant glaring; it was just something that his face was used to doing. And anyway, he was much too flustered by the thought that Tino found him attractive.

"And you should talk more," Tino continued when he was not stopped. "Maybe if you did you wouldn't mumble so much. But, you know, I kind of like your accent even if it's really hard to understand what you're saying sometimes. And maybe if you talked more that would go away, so maybe you shouldn't talk more after all. But, anyway, if you stopped glaring at people and talked once in a while I bet they wouldn't think you're so scary. You know I used to think you were really scary until I started talking to you, and now I don't think you're scary at all."

Was that just the alcohol talking or did Tino actually think these things?

"Hey say something," Tino complained, and pouted up at Berwald, which was certainly the most adorable thing the engineer had ever seen. "I feel like I'm talking to myself here."

"Dunno what t' say," Berwald replied honestly, because he was at a complete loss. He would not have been very good at this even sober, and now his mind was muddled with alcohol.

Tino frowned. "Hey, Berwald, do you like me?" he asked.

That surprised the engineer, but he nodded. "Ja."

"Good. I like you, too," Tino told him, and stood up on his toes, pulling on Berwald's shirt both to keep himself steady and to pull the man down so he could press their lips together.

* * *

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jötunheimr – home of the Jötun.  
> Trolls – Negative synonym for Jötun, the giants. They live in isolated caves in mountains and are rarely helpful or friendly, known mostly for harassing Humans and Aesir.


	9. Lover

Tino had never kissed someone who was quite so much taller than him. It was a little awkward, standing on his toes with Berwald hunched over to meet his lips. But it was not unpleasant. Berwald's lips were soft, if a little chapped, and warm against his own. The Swede's large hands eventually came to rest on Tino's waist, helping to keep him steady as he stood on tip-toe. Tino's own hands held onto the taller man's neck, keeping him pulled down and their lips pressed together. The contact stayed chaste, but Tino was unwilling to let it go. Eventually he had to, though, and lowered himself down off the balls of his feet so he was standing properly on the ground once again and staring up at Berwald.

Berwald stared right back at him, his expression as unreadable as ever and Tino wondered what he was thinking. Obviously he had not been offended or disgusted by the kiss. He had not pushed Tino away; he was still not pushing Tino away. Actually, Tino realized belatedly, he was holding them closer together than they had been before. Tino decided that that was the sign he needed. "Your room or mine?" he asked with a small smile on his lips.

That smile widened as he watched Berwald's cheeks turn pink. He half expected the man to push him away then, but Berwald did not. Though he was blushing rather fiercely he indicated his quarters. Tino was still smiling as he moved his arms from around Berwald's neck and took the larger man's hands in his own, turning around and leading him through the automatic door and into the tiny room. He had never been into Berwald's quarters before. They contained the same furniture as all the other crew quarters, a simple bed that was hardly more than a cot, a small table and a single short stool. The top of the table was scattered with various tools and machine parts, none of which Tino would have been able to name. A large lock-box sat under the bed, unlocked, and probably what Berwald used for a wardrobe, though in all the time Tino had known him he had only seen Berwald wear three or four outfits.

Tino locked the door after they had entered and then drew Berwald over to the bed. He was not sure how well they would fit on the small bed frame, or how comfortable the mattress would be, but he felt certain they could make it work. He sat down on the bed and pulled Berwald down with him, then kissed the man again. This time he did not allow it to remain chaste. Parting his lips, Tino slipped his tongue out to run lightly along Berwald's, silently urging him to open up and let him in. Berwald complied, parting his lips and opening his jaw a tiny bit, but that was all Tino needed. His arms wound around the larger man's shoulder, holding him close and running his fingers through the short blond hair as he tasted the other man.

Berwald's motions were much more awkward as he returned the kiss. It felt a little strange, but oh so good, and Tino tasted like alcohol and honey. His hands twitched nervously, but desire overcame his nervousness and the large man let his hands rest on Tino's hips, then slowly wrap around his waist as the smaller man pressed closer. Berwald let his smaller companion take the lead in the kiss, feeling out of his element and afraid of doing something wrong.

Of course, it did not take long for Tino to notice that his was not quite as enthusiastic as he was and he pulled back to look at the other man curiously, and with a hint of worry. Had he read the signs wrong? "What's wrong?"

Berwald looked flustered and shook his head. Nothing was wrong. "J'st… Don't wanna do anythin' wrong," he replied, feeling embarrassed. The smaller man looked up at him curiously, violet eyes searching his face for any signs that he was lying, but he saw nothing there that hinted at that. Looking deep into the man's eyes he saw only nervousness.

"Berwald…" Tino breathed, disbelieving as the pieces clicked together in his head, "Are you a virgin?" The larger man's cheeks turned bright red, and that was all the answer that Tino needed. He did not know why it made him laugh, but it did. Maybe he was laughing at himself for always being so frightened of this man, who turned out only to be shy and awkward. "You're so cute, Berwald," Tino smiled and pulled the man down into a tight hug, running his fingers through his short blond hair. "We don't have to do anything if you don't want."

Berwald shook his head against Tino's shoulder. "Want to," he mumbled, his voice even harder to understand when muffled in Tino's shirt. "Love ya."

Tino froze, breath caught in his throat. Love? When had this become love? Tino did not … Well he was not sure how he felt. And love was not a word he felt comfortable throwing around casually. "D-don't joke like that, Berwald," he said, trying to laugh it off.

"M' not jokin'," Berwald replied, lifting his head to look Tino in the eyes.

"Eh? B-but," Tino felt his face heat up, "We've barely known each other for more than a year."

"S' long enough," the Swede insisted. His voice was surprisingly gentle. "Y' don't have to say anything," he added, seeing the uncertain look in Tino's eyes. He could settle with mild affection, for friendship with benefits. At least that was what he told himself.

"Berwald…" Tino breathed, looking up at the other man. Berwald looked so sincere, and he was so gentle. And he always had been, all along; only Tino had been too shallow to see it. "I don't want to lead you on," he murmured, and traced his fingers over the lines of the other man's face. Berwald's sharp features had frightened him at first, but now he could see past them. "I don't know how I feel about you. I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"I won't," Berwald promised softly. It was enough to know that Tino would try not to break his heart. For Berwald it was already too late. He was head over heels and every moment in Tino's presence only made him fall further and further. "Just wanna be with ya." Every second by Tino's side was worth whatever pain might come later.

"Alright then," Tino smiled up at him softly and pulled the other man down for a kiss that was soft and gentle; so much better than the passion filled kisses they had shared only moments before. Berwald gladly returned the kiss, leaning into Tino's gentle embrace. Now that he knew what to expect, Tino was not afraid to take charge of the situation. He let his hands wander over Berwald's shoulders, down his back, then back up, over his collar, fingers brushing the exposed skin at his neck before sliding further down. Even through the fabric of the man's shirt he could feel his well toned muscles and traced the dips and rises as his hands moved lower. Tino took his time getting down to the waistband of Berwald's pants, where he undid the man's belt and pulled his shirt free. He moved slowly, but was not really in the mood for slow lovemaking. It had been over a year since he had last gotten any, after all. But he feared now if he moved too quickly it would scare Berwald off and then he would be in an even worse situation.

For his part, Berwald was happy that Tino was the one to move them forward. His own hands trembled slightly in nervousness and anticipation as he dared to allow himself to touch the body beneath him. Tino was so much smaller than him it was easy to forget how much strength that little body held, but as the engineer's hands slid down the sniper's chest to his stomach he could feel the muscle hidden under that soft flesh. Tino broke off the kiss and pressed his lips softly to Berwald's cheek, rough with a day's worth of stubble, and his neck, murmuring soft encouragements and letting the man know when he had done something the smaller man liked.

Tino worked his hands into Berwald's shirt and ran his fingers over the bare flesh beneath, feeling how it trembled under his feather-light touches. It really was cute, he couldn't help thinking again, how shy Berwald was. But the thought did not last very long before he got to work again, now unbuttoning the larger man's shirt until his chest was exposed. Tino purred, happy with what he saw, and pushed the shirt over Berwald's shoulders as far as he could. Eventually the other man got the hint and sat up enough to shrug the garment off, and when he did Tino saw that his cheeks were still stained lightly pink.

The little gunman sat up and wrapped his arms around Berwald's waist, kissing his neck and collar softly and running his hands up and down the larger man's back. Berwald's muscles were tight and trembling under his touch. "Relax," he purred softly, nuzzling softly at the crook of the man's neck. "I'll tell you if you do anything wrong," he said lightly, trying to brighten the mood. Berwald was taking this much too seriously, in Tino's opinion. But this probably was that important to him.

Berwald sighed and tried to relax. It helped to have Tino wrapped around him and obviously eager even if he was putting up with the engineer's awkwardness. Tino had probably been expecting a much quicker roll in the hay. Berwald bowed his head and pressed a kiss to Tino's shoulder, open mouthed and letting his tongue flick out to taste the skin. It tasted surprisingly good, so he did it again, this time closer to Tino's neck, and again, lips hovering over the soft beating of the small man's pulse. Tino sighed pleasantly, his head falling back in invitation for Berwald to continue, but the engineer did not. Instead he kissed Tino's lips again and pulled up on the bottom of his shirt. When the kiss parted so he could pull the shirt off over his head Tino was smiling. He tossed the garment onto the floor and leaned up to kiss Berwald softly, "Now you're getting it," he murmured encouragingly.

Tino fell back onto the bed and pulled Berwald with him, sealing their lips together and slipping his tongue into the other man's mouth. Berwald kissed back hesitantly, but Tino pulled him closer, still trying to encourage him to let go of his unnecessary fears and enjoy the moment. The engineer was enjoying himself, but he was uncertain what to do. His admission of love seemed to have been too much for the smaller man, and he did not want to make a mistake like that again. If he did Tino might leave. All he thought he could do was follow Tino's lead and hope he didn't do anything wrong, but that was exactly the opposite of what Tino wanted.

"Berwald," Tino breathed when their lips parted, and he looked up into the man's eyes. God, those were gorgeous eyes, even through the lenses of his glasses and with the way he squinted to see. Such a gorgeous color, pure and clear like the calm ocean on a sunny day. "Don't be so nervous," Tino murmured.

"Don' wanna do anythin' wrong," Berwald admitted shamefaced.

And Tino laughed. "Silly," he purred and stroked the man's cheek. "Didn't I say I would tell you if you did? Just do whatever feels right," he encouraged.

Berwald nodded and tried to push aside his fears. He kissed Tino's cheek and the small man hummed happily. They kissed again, and in order to get things moving a little more quickly, Tino's hands snaked down Berwald's chest and stomach, sliding over his skin until they reached the waistband of his pants once more. The Swede's belt was already undone, but now he popped open the button and ever so slowly drew down the zipper, hoping perhaps that Berwald might not notice. And he might not have, except that the next thing Tino did was shove his hand inside Berwald's pants to discover what was inside.

The noise that escaped Berwald's throat when Tino's hand cupped and rubbed him through his underwear was something like a strangled moan. He had been caught completely off guard, and his surprise and embarrassment were warring with the part of his mind that wanted to think only about how good that felt. Tino chuckled softly in amusement. The gunman liked what he felt so far and rubbed gently at the flesh between Berwald's legs until the larger man was panting against his shoulder, then he withdrew his hand.

Berwald was surprised to find himself disappointed when Tino's hand was removed. But his face was bright red and his breathing was heavy so Tino knew just how much he had enjoyed that. The smaller man took hold of his partner's pants and began pushing them down, sliding the fabric down over his hips and onto his thighs, as far as he could reach while still comfortably pinned under the larger man. Berwald blushed and his heart raced and he might have argued and protested but Tino moved too quickly and before he could even form words his pants were as good as off. But he did manage to reach down and stop Tino's hand before it could reach for his underwear.

"What's wrong?" Tino asked, seeing the strange look on his partner's face.

Berwald did not answer right away, and when he did his mumbling was worse than usual as he was forced to admit, "M' embarr'sed."

And again Tino was overcome with affection for Berwald's introversion. "Then I'll do it, too," he offered with a small smile. "That way we'll be even." But instead of removing his own pants he pulled Berwald's hands to his hips and set them on the fabric. "On second thought, you do it," he said.

For a moment Berwald just stared at his hands as though uncertain what to do, and then, with his heart beating maddeningly in his chest, he started to move. Slowly he worked open the buckle on Tino's belt, then the button and lastly the zipper. Tino lifted his hips slightly off the mattress once his pants were unfastened so that Berwald could pull them off more easily, but it took the larger man another few moments before he worked up the courage the slide the fabric down. Tino made him pull the pants all the way down his legs and off, and then toed off his socks so that all that was left was his underwear. Berwald followed suit, feeling only slightly less embarrassed with Tino in a similar state of undress.

It did help, though, because Berwald was now distracted from his own near nakedness by the body laid out below him. And though he felt certain he should have been too ashamed to do so, the engineer could not stop himself from staring. Tino was perfect. He had always thought that Tino was perfect. His body was small, but perfectly proportional, with maybe a little extra weight here and there, but Berwald only found that all the more endearing. His skin was pale but flawless; there was not a birthmark or a scar on him. It seemed impossible. "How're ya so perfect?"

Tino blushed bright red, embarrassed for the first time since they had stumbled into bed. He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head away from Berwald and covering his face with his hands. "I'm not," he said. "It's not real."

"Not real?" Berwald asked in confusion.

"It's fake," Tino confirmed without looking back at Berwald. "My mother… She was a Gene."

A Gene. A genetically modified child. A baby designed exactly to the parents' specifications to create the most handsome, smartest, most talented offspring. The practice had been popular centuries ago when it had first been developed, but had fallen out of fashion almost as quickly as it had come in; too expensive for most families and failing to meet parental expectations as often as it succeeded. Berwald had not thought anyone still did it. It explained a lot about Tino, though, his unusually colored and inhumanly sharp eyes, for one. But could everything about his physical appearance and abilities be blamed on his grandparents' decision?

"Doesn't matter," Berwald murmured. He took Tino's chin in his hands and turned his face toward him again. "Don't care. Love ya the way ya are."

Tino's face turned pink and his eyes were uncertain as he looked up at Berwald. What had once been a sign of family wealth and high social status was now something looked down on, a part of some families' pasts that they preferred not to talk about. But Tino wasn't just descended of someone who had dabbled in it, he was half-Gene. "Don't tell anyone," he pleaded softly.

"Alright," Berwald agreed with a small nod, "If ya don' want me to." This was Tino's secret to keep and share as he wished, and Berwald would not betray the trust he knew he had just gained. He would take this with him to the grave if he had to.

"Thank you," Tino sighed in relief. A little hesitantly he raised his arms and wrapped them around Berwald's neck, pulling the man down gently for another kiss. It really meant a lot to him that the other man accepted this part of him and he trusted Berwald to keep his secret. They kissed slowly, but in the pit of his stomach Tino was reminded of how long they had been at this already. No more talking, there would be plenty of time for talking in the future, now it was time to get down to business.

* * *

It was not the best sex that Tino had ever had. But it was not the worst, either. Berwald could use some practice but damn was that man good with his hands. Sated and exhausted the small man curled up against his partner's broad chest, curling around him in an attempt to get comfortable in the bed that was nowhere near big enough for the both of them. Eventually they managed to get situated comfortably, though Tino ended up lying almost entirely on top of Berwald. Not that he minded; his body was warm and surprisingly comfortable. Resting his head on the larger man's chest, Tino smiled at the feel of arms wrapped protectively around him and let the slow gentle thudding of Berwald's heartbeat lull him to sleep.

* * *

When Tino woke the next morning he was sore. His lower back ached, reminding him of the previous night's activities and how out of shape he was. He also had a slight crick in his neck and his pinky finger had gone numb from sleeping with his arm at a strange angle. These beds were really not meant to fit two people, especially if one of them was Berwald's size. But despite all of that, he was content. He felt extremely relaxed, warm, and comfortable. Breathing in, he could smell Berwald's scent – engine grease and oil and coffee – and the lingering smell of what they had done the night before.

He stretched slightly, as much as he could without getting up, trying to work out some of the kinks and aches in his body. It did not help very much. And then he opened his eyes, slowly blinking in the dim light and reaching up to rub the crust of sleep from his lids as he yawned. A quick glance was all it took to tell him that Berwald was still asleep. They had not moved much in the night, Berwald still lay on his back and Tino was draped across his chest. It was a very comfortable chest; just the right amount of muscle in just the right places to make a very nice pillow. Tino nuzzled against the warm chest and tried to snuggle closer to the body beneath him, but it was not possible.

Moments later a low sigh and a shift in his pillow told him that Berwald was waking up. Tino moved slightly, giving the tall man room as he stretched slightly and slowly woke. His eyes opened slowly and he squinted, glaring at the ceiling as though trying to see whether he still needed glasses today. Apparently so, given how his hand then swung over to the table and groped for the thin wire frames before slipping them onto his face. Only then did he look down to see Tino settled against his side and staring up at him.

"G'mornin'," Berwald said gruffly, his voice low and gravely from sleep.

"Good morning," Tino replied softly and his own voice was not much better. "Sleep well?" he asked softly, and received a soft grunt in reply that usually translated to a 'yes'. Tino smiled faintly and lifted himself up enough to press a soft kiss to the other man's lips before sitting up and stretching. "I need coffee," he mumbled.

* * *

Tino emerged from Berwald's quarters barefoot and wearing only his pants and undershirt. He padded down the grated floor to the galley to see if he could obtain some coffee, or what passed for coffee on this ship, for himself and Berwald. Still half asleep, Tino was not expecting to encounter anyone else while he shuffled into the galley, but upon entering the room he was greeted by three pairs of eyes that froze him on the spot.

"Good morning," Mathias said with a shit eating grin that suggested he knew far too much about this situation, or at least assumed far too much from Tino's rumpled appearance.

Tino could not think of a single thing to say. He suddenly realized what he looked like, wearing his pants and a loose tank top, his hair out of place and he had not even checked to see if there were any telling marks on his neck.

"Something you want to tell us about?" Aleksander asked from behind his coffee cup.

There was one thing Tino was grateful for, coffee had already been made. "J- Just getting some coffee," the Finn mumbled, feeling his face heat up uncomfortably. As quickly as possible he made his way across the room to the coffee maker and fished two mugs out of the nearby cabinet. The mugs did not match, but then nothing on this ship did. One was plain white, the other a tacky purple with yellow stars. As quickly as he could without scalding himself he poured two cups of coffee and did not bother to put sugar or milk into either of them, not that they had much to spare for coffee anyway.

"Say good morning to Berwald for me," Mathias called as Tino rushed out of the galley, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He disappeared back into Berwald's quarters with Mathias' chuckling still ringing in his ears and groaned as he sat down on the bed.

"What's wrong?" Berwald asked, arching one eyebrow curiously as he took his coffee from Tino gratefully. The tall man was by now dressed in a pair of well worn work pants and an old button up shirt that was stained with grease and currently unbuttoned.

"Should have known nothing on this ship could be kept a secret for long," The smaller man muttered, and downed half of his coffee in one gulp. He should have gotten three cups so he could have more. Berwald only hummed in response and sipped at his coffee more sedately. "They were all out there, like they were waiting for one of us to show up," Tino continued. He had never been so embarrassed in his whole life.

Berwald, for his part, did not mind all that much that the others knew, or at least assumed, what had happened the night before. He did honestly care about Tino, it was Tino who had a problem with this relationship, Tino who did not know how he felt. For all Berwald knew, this might never happen again, and while he was not happy with it, he could live with that. And it was not like he would get any more teasing than he usually did from his crew members. It was probably Tino who would come off worst in this.

"Now y' don't have to worry 'bout 'em finding out, though," Berwald pointed out, hoping to be a little optimistic and make Tino feel better. If they already knew what had happened, then there was no secret to be kept and no worrying about that secret being found out. And if this kept up then eventually, as with Mathias and Aleksander, it would become boring.

Tino groaned softly, "I just wish we had some say in how they had found out," He sighed. "God, what if they heard us. How embarrassing." He thought he might die from it. These were the people he had to live and work with. He might never be able to show his face in front of them again.

But Berwald just shrugged. For all his shyness the night before he was taking this all very well. "The walls 're thin," he commented, "Probably be more surprised if they didn't."

"That's not helping, Berwald," Tino complained, hanging his head in shame.

"Sorry," the man murmured. "Just don't pay attention to 'em. Mathias'll get bored of teasin' ya if ya don't respond."

Tino looked sideways at him, "Really? That didn't seem to work with you," he commented.

"He's only doin' it for attention," Berwald explained. "He always does."

Tino sighed and downed the last of his coffee, though immediately regretted it when he had nothing left. "I hope you're right. I don't think I could bear it."

Some part of Berwald was a little hurt that Tino was so embarrassed by the others knowing about their relationship. If what they had could be called a relationship, because Tino had been very clear the night before that this might be a one time thing. Was he embarrassed by Berwald? What exactly was the big problem? He hoped it was just the manner in which they had been found out, though he did not know what had happened out in the galley. He had only seen Tino leave, still adorably sleepy, and return red faced and flustered. "It'll be fine," he said, and patted the smaller man on the head, which only made Tino blush all the more. He would be fine, Berwald told himself, so long as Tino did not try to push him away because of this. And if he did, well, Berwald was not sure what he would do in that case. But he could always try to win his way back into Tino's heart, although that was hardly something Berwald was very good at.

* * *


	10. Underground

In the days following their tryst Tino worked out a carefully choreographed routine in which he avoided the other crew members as much as possible. Still horrified that he and Berwald had been overheard, it was days before he was willing to show his face before Mathias, Aleksander and Eiríkur. He avoided Berwald too, to a lesser extent; still conflicted about his feelings for the other man.

Tino blamed the engineer's declaration of love for his dilemma. Had Berwald said nothing he probably would never have considered this turning into a real relationship. At least not so quickly.

But eventually, as Berwald had predicted, Mathias' teasing stopped, and that did a lot to relieve Tino's uneasiness. He was again willing to spend time with the crew and, though awkward at first, Berwald too. The engineer had to reassure him that he could settle for whatever relationship Tino wanted, casual or otherwise. And though Tino could see, even through Berwald's carefully masked emotions, that this was not entirely the truth it comforted him. And he truly did enjoy the man's company and companionship.

It was only a week before things were back to normal, as though that drunken night had never happened.

* * *

Svartálfaheim was home to the last race given guard to a key to the temple on Asgard. It was home to the Dwarves, a race even more hostile to humans than the Trolls were, because at least the Trolls were quiet about it. Dwarves, on the other hand, liked to cause a fuss. They did not coexist peacefully with the Humans who had taken up mining on their world, without permission, as Humans were wont to do.

Of the original mining colonies that had been set up across the surface of the planet, and there had been at least a dozen, only one remained. It existed as a gesture of good faith to avoid an all out war between the humans and the Dwarves, who knew full well they would not be able to defend their planet from an attack fleet, and to facilitate negotiations between the two races. The Dwarves were perfectly happy to export the valuable ore that laced their planet so long as they were allowed to mine it themselves and given proper payment. The planet was not particularly suited to farming and became worse the further the mines delved. Soon trade would be the only way to sustain their population. But negotiations were not going well, the rumors said.

This made Mathias' crew somewhat nervous to land on the planet. But they had come this far, they could not turn back now. The captain was confident that he would be able to negotiate with the Dwarves in order to get the key that they needed. The others were not so certain, but there was little else they could do but try.

Aleksander set the ship down by the largest Dwarven settlement, which was also located nearby the last remaining human colony. Dwarven cities were largely underground and sometimes difficult to spot from the air. There were the tell-tale signs though, of smoke coming from chimneys and exhaust vents, pouring up into the atmosphere in steady white columns. There were a few buildings on the surface, and it was toward the largest of these that the five men of the Hofvar headed after landing.

It was marked in ancient runes as 'Niðaviller', not that any of the five could read it. Without knocking Mathias threw open the doors and strode inside. Within the crudely made structure there was very little, but everything was carved from stone. A stone desk sat across from the door with one of the little people seated behind it. To most extents the Dwarves resembled humans, only slightly smaller. A fully grown dwarf would stand only to an average man's chest. Their skin was pale, almost pure white from generations of lifetimes spend in their subterranean settlements. They were tough, hardy people, suited to a life of manual labor and renowned for their skill at mining and forging metal.

The Dwarf that stood behind the table appeared to be waiting for them. Without a doubt their sensors had seen the arrival of their little ship and Mathias expected there were others around as well, watching them, probably pointing guns at them. But that did not stop him from walking in as though he owned the place. " _Hallo!_ " he greeted cheerfully, rocking back onto his heels as he stopped in front of the table. "I'd like to talk to whoever's in charge," he announced.

The Dwarf behind the table was just as coarse as the rest of his race. The pale skin was stretched tight over his bones, emphasizing every hollow and sharp angle. His neck was thick and shoulders broad, and the heavy clothing he wore undoubtedly covered a body of solid muscle. And he glared unhappily up at the five men who had just entered, obviously unimpressed by Mathias' show of overconfidence. "And who are you to ask such a thing?" he demanded.

"Mathias Andersen, captain of the Hófvarpnir," Mathias replied without hesitation, grinning as he proudly announced his status.

The Dwarf stared back at him, still unimpressed. "And what is your business here?"

"We're on our way to Asgard," Mathias announced, "We're going to see if the legends are true about what's hidden in the temple."

"Don't tell him that, idiot!" Aleksander snapped from behind him, and slapped the taller man upside the head.

"Ow! Why not?" Mathias pouted and rubbed the back of his head where the hit had landed. "You never know if they'll just hand it over without a fight. What do they care about some stupid treasure on an abandoned planet anyway?"

"We will not hand over the key to Humans," the Dwarf interrupted. He was still glaring at them with his arms crossed in front of his wide chest.

"Why not?" Mathias asked.

"Because we do not want the Human government to get their hands on it. The treasure of Asgard is safest where it is, out of anyone's hands," the Dwarf replied.

"But we aren't the government," Mathias argued. "We're pirates. You can count on us not to give it to the government!"

"No, I am afraid I cannot," the Dwarf countered. "You are not infallible; you cannot say whether the treasure will ever pass out of your hands."

Mathias sighed and rolled his eyes. "You guys must not get very much news out here. Otherwise you would know that we are the best pirates in the galaxy! We've already got two keys, and all we need is yours and then we'll have it. Come on. What harm could it do, really?"

The Dwarf's frown deepened as he looked up at Mathias. "You do not understand what is hidden there, do you? If you did you would not have to ask such questions."

"Neither do you," Mathias argued. "There is no record anywhere of what is in that temple. For all you know the whole thing could be a hoax."

"And for all I know it could be a weapon more powerful than anything in the galaxy. Whatever is there was locked away for a reason and someone thought it was important enough to be guarded by three races," the Dwarf countered.

Mathias whined. Aleksander rolled his eyes and shoved his captain aside. Mathias stumbled and nearly ran into Tino. "Do not mind this buffoon," the straight-faced man said, taking up Mathias' place in front of the table. "I am sure there is some reasonable agreement that we could come to. Perhaps a trade?"

"Humans do not have anything that we would find of value," the Dwarf proclaimed.

"Really?" Aleksander raised an eyebrow curiously. "Because our engineer thinks there might be something wrong with your lights." As he spoke he pointed back over his shoulder to Berwald, who was staring up at the ceiling with his expression more fierce than normal. "And I can't help but notice how they're flickering, and I'm not certain the ventilation in here is working properly. Are you having some trouble with your life support systems?"

The Dwarf stiffened, his mouth pressed into a straight thin line and he stared back at the navigator. He had underestimated them, obviously not expecting them to notice the tell-tale signs of system trouble. And none of the others had noticed, it was only Berwald's familiarity with mechanical systems and Aleksander's attention to detail that brought them to attention. "Our generator is old," the Dwarf replied. "It does not always function perfectly. It is merely time for some maintenance."

"No it's not," Berwald replied, taking his gaze off of the ceiling and turning those sharp eyes to the Dwarf. "Generator's 'bout to break," he said. "Lights're flickering unevenly an' air circulation's not workin' at all. I'm guessin' the main room's not far from here 'cause those're the main vents," he pointed to a long line of grate along one side of the room in which they stood. "But I can't hear the machines at all."

The Dwarf's mouth pressed into an even smaller line. He had greatly underestimated these men. "Are you suggesting that we require your assistance to fix it?" he asked.

Berwald shook his head. He had not meant to offend. "But I could do it faster," he replied.

"You think pretty highly of yourself, Human," the Dwarf snapped. "To think you are a better worker than a Dwarf."

Berwald shrugged. "Dwarves're good at makin' the parts. Not so good at putting 'em together and making 'em work," he said. "Even now you're usin' mining tools made by Humans. Bet the generator's Human-made, too."

For that the Dwarf had no comeback, but it was clear to see on his face how much he hated being outsmarted by a human. Mathias let out a low whistle of amazement. "Looks like you lost this one," he said sympathetically. "And I would listen to what he has to say. Berwald doesn't talk much, but when he does it's important. You should get someone to look at that generator before it kicks the bucket."

"Are you suggesting I let your people look at it, Captain?" the Dwarf spit, turning all of his anger instantly on Mathias. Of course it rolled off the captain like asteroids off a deflector shield.

"You don't like the Human government, right? We don't like the government, either," Mathias said. "And! We can help you repair the generator. So why don't we help you, and then you help us, huh? Berwald fixes your generator and you give us the key. Everybody wins!"

The Dwarf seemed to contemplate this for a long moment. Berwald and Mathias had made a good argument, and getting in to look at the generator would get them much closer to the key that they so badly needed. "I will speak with my superiors about this," the Dwarf finally answered. He did not wait for them to reply, but really there was little else the five men could do but wait for word. They had managed to get the other two keys without any fighting at all, and it would be ideal to continue that trend.

The Dwarf disappeared below the lip of the table and the sound of some heavy object falling back onto the stone floor. Curious, Mathias leaned over the table and saw the Dwarf disappear through a trapdoor in the floor. "So that's how they get in," the captain murmured thoughtfully.

And then they waited. Mathias hopped up to sit on the carved stone table. His feet hung barely off the ground and he swung his legs back and forth, scuffing the bottom of his boots on the dusty ground. Eiríkur and Tino sat themselves down on the ground, getting comfortable because there was no telling how long they would be waiting. Berwald continued to glare at the flickering overhead lighting, which by now was starting to get a little annoying.

It was difficult to tell time in the room where they waited. Despite being a single room building there were no windows. It was as though the building had been carved out of a single huge rock. Eventually Aleksander sat down as well, and then Berwald began to pace impatiently. It was obvious the longer they stayed in there how bad the ventilation was when the air did not circulate at all. It quickly became rather stuffy, and it did not help at all that Berwald's pacing was kicking up the dust from the floor.

"Berwald, come sit down, you're driving me insane," Tino finally could not stand it any more and called the tall man over.

The Swede stopped in his tracks and looked back over at his crewmates. Mathias was now lying on the table, the other three sat on the floor. All of them looked rather bored and miserable. "Sorry," Berwald mumbled, and crossed the floor to sit down beside Tino.

"It's okay," Tino assured him, patting the man's knee after he sat down. Then he turned and used the larger man as a back rest.

More time passed. Aleksander and Eiríkur began to play a simple hand game from their childhood to pass the time. And then suddenly the trap door opened and once more crashed back onto the floor. The sound was so sudden and loud that all five of them jumped in surprise. Mathias sat up quickly and scrambled off the table.

The same Dwarf they had spoken to before emerged from the underground, but this time he was accompanied by another. Similarly built, but a few decades older, the Dwarf that followed had graying hair and beard, his clothing was nicer than his kinsman, signifying perhaps that he was of higher status. All of the men hurried to their feet while the older Dwarf stepped up to the table. "I am sorry to have kept you waiting for so long," he spoke with a rough voice. "I am Baldrick, the mayor of this colony. My man tells me you have offered to help repair our generator."

"Yes," Mathias replied enthusiastically. "In return for the key to the temple on Asgard."

"I am not certain that is a fair trade," The old Dwarf replied. "The treasure of Asgard is far more valuable than any generator, and the Aesir saw fit to leave its protection in the hands of many species for a reason. My people have guarded this key for countless generations, why now should we hand it over so easily?"

Mathias had no easy answer to this, because he was not very good with fancy speeches or debates, or justifying his actions. Helplessly he turned to the others for support. Seeing his captain's desperation, Aleksander stepped up and spoke, "We do not seek to use the treasure solely for personal gain," he said. "The Midgard government has become much too powerful in this galaxy and it leaves behind the other races and a large portion of its own people. We do not support the way the government guns this galaxy only for its own benefit. Anything that can be gained from the treasure of Asgard will be shared with the people and races that the government oppresses."

Baldrick looked up at the pilot and regarded Aleksander carefully. The man knew exactly what to say to appeal to the Dwarves. They did not get along with the Human government, so proposing that they would not let that government get its hands on this treasure was definitely in the Dwarves' interests. "You speak well," Baldrick answered with a slow nod. "I do not know how much of your words are true, but I do believe that your intentions are true and that you will not allow the Asgard treasure to fall into government hands. Very well," he folded his hands in front of his stomach and nodded again at the five men. "If you succeed in repairing our generator then you may have the key that was entrusted to the Dwarves."

Mathias grinned, "That's great," he exclaimed, unable to help himself. "Thanks!"

"Thank you," Aleksander amended, "We truly appreciate that you are willing to cooperate with us."

"Of course," Baldrick smiled at Aleksander. The expression pulled at his tough wrinkled skin and caused it to stretch strangely over his bones. "Now, I invite you to come down into our city. You will be accommodated for your stay, but I expect that work on the generator will be your highest priority."

"Of course," Aleksander assured. "Berwald is our engineer," he motioned to the tall Swede as he spoke, "He will get to work right away to find where the problem is. I assure you there is no better hand in the whole quadrant."

Baldrick smiled wider. "Then I am even more grateful that ones such as you have come by. We are, as I am sure you have noticed by now, in a bit of a tight spot. But please, we can discuss this further as we walk." With that the Dwarf turned around and began descending again through the trap door. Mathias trotted around the table to follow him down, closely followed by the members of his crew and the Dwarf who had met with them originally.

The trap door opened to a ladder, which they descended one by one a short distance until they stood on a landing at the top of a flight of stairs. Once all were off the ladder the trap door was closed and for a moment they were plunged into darkness. Then electrical lights that ran along the ceiling burst to life and quickly brightened the corridor again. The flight of stairs had a low ceiling, so low that Berwald had to duck his head to avoid bumping it as they began walking. The floor beneath them was worn smooth from many years of use; the walls and ceiling were carved and had been carefully smoothed by the masons who had originally carved out this place.

The further they descended the cooler the air became, though it also became mustier and more stagnant. It was clear that the air circulation system had been inactive for a significant period of time. At the bottom of the stairs they emerged into a larger passage with a higher ceiling so that Berwald was able to stand upright again. But other than the size, this passage was unintelligible from the other. The same smooth rock walls and worn floor. Overhead ran strings of electric lights and numerous thin metal pipes. The ceiling was occasionally broken by a large vent, a part of the currently inactive ventilation system.

"I will first show you where you will be permitted to stay while you are here," Baldrick said as he turned to the right and began leading them down the corridor. "Then I will show you where the generator room is so that you may begin working."

"That's fine," Aleksander assured him, though he was sure Berwald would have preferred to go straight to work in the generator room.

Baldrick lead them down the corridor, and then down another. To the Hofvar crew they all looked identical, but the Dwarf did not think twice at any turn he took. After a short walk they ended in front of a nondescript wooden door. "I do not expect you will be here for long, so I hope you do not mind sharing a sleeping quarters. Many of our workers live in these dormitories, which are the closest to the main control rooms for all of our systems. This one is currently empty. Because of the generator trouble we have been experiencing as of late we have sent many to other colonies for safety." As he spoke he pulled open the door and motioned for the men to enter, which they did cautiously.

Inside, the room was long, running off down to their left for quite a ways. It was indeed a dormitory, with beds lined up along the far wall, each a fair distance from each other and separated with a wooden screen to create small open cubicles. Other than the fact that the bed were all built to fit someone of Dwarven stature, it looked like a comfortable enough place to sleep.

"This will be fine," Aleksander assured with a nod and polite smile.

"Good, good," Baldrick seemed pleased to hear this and he turned around again to lead them back out into the corridor. "I will show you where you will be working now. It is just down the passage a ways, so I trust you will not get lost."

True to his word, the room that Baldrick lead them to was at the far end of the corridor, where the passage onto which the dormitory opened met with another perpendicular hallway. There was no door to separate it from the rest of the complex, just an opening in the wall directly across from where they stood. Baldrick led them inside, where the room was brightly lit, though with the lights still flickering unsteadily in the fluctuating power. The room was large and filled with machinery of all sorts. These were the main generators that provided power for the entire underground city, and if they were to go offline for any reason it would only be a matter of time before the air within became stagnant and unbreathable. Backup generators could not hope to provide enough power to ventilate the city, and that was why it had been evacuated now as the generators showed signs of failure.

Immediately upon entering the room, Berwald stepped forward and simply stared at the machines presented to him. They were enormous. Huge, hulking things sitting in a row down the center of the high ceilinged room. On the ceiling, fans turned slowly to cool the room, though a few of them had turned off entirely and now hung lifeless among their counterparts. Berwald's eyes took in everything; the levers and switches that controlled the machines, the wires and cables that carried their generated power to various different parts of the settlement. A few Dwarves hung around, the last of the mechanics in this all but abandoned city, attempting to keep alive the machines that kept them all alive underground.

Though Dwarves had always lived in underground settlements, or at least largely undergrounds, they had only recently begun relying on this human technology. Before, the tunnels that they dug had been open to the sky in enough places, and designed such that air would flow through them naturally. Before electricity they had been masters at keeping their underground cities ventilated, heated and lit with little more than fire and strategic architecture. Today they built with a much more rigid purpose, with straight corridors and grid-like layouts that did not follow the natural flow of the earth and the things that moved within it. They did this because natural ventilation was no longer necessary thanks to the technology that Humans had provided for them. The Dwarves were able to build larger and deeper cities with this technology, and in return for it they mined the raw materials that their planet was rich in and machined parts to sell to the Humans to build more of these machines so that they could build more underground cities. The cycle was never ending and the Dwarves became increasingly reliant upon the Humans that they, ironically, were attempting to get off their planet.

But for all of their reliance on Human technology the Dwarves had never bothered to learn how to properly maintain and repair that technology. They simply let the machines work without doing more than keep an eye on them, which was fine until the machines decided to break. From the look of things, Berwald assumed that these generators were nearing the end of their lifespan. It was not that they had been damaged or were in ill repair, they were just old. They were worn out from decades of constant use without a break or a cleaning; they probably needed a number of new parts, new oil, a cleaning; any number of things to get these things back to working like new again.

"What do you think, Swede?" Mathias asked, watching Berwald as the engineer assessed the damage that he would have to repair.

Honestly, this was a lot worse than Berwald had expected. And it would take a lot longer than he had expected. "It's bad," he replied bluntly, not sure how else to put it.

"How bad?" Mathias asked, and Baldrick looked concerned when he heard that.

Berwald sighed faintly and lifted his glasses off his nose to rub the bridge briefly before setting them back down. "They'll all need t' be cleaned," he started. "Probably a lot of parts need t' be replaced 'r fixed. Need t' look over all of 'em."

Baldrick wrung his hands and frowned in concern. "I know it is quite bad, that is why we have evacuated the city, so that if anything goes wrong no one will be injured. But do you think you can do anything about it?"

"Might be able t' fix 'em," Berwald replied. "Have t' take a look at 'em first, t' see how bad it is. If it's worse 'n I thought... Might not be able t' fix it."

"I see," Baldrick nodded silently to himself and thought it over. "Well, I will thank you for taking a look and seeing what you can do, I will let you have all the assistants that you need so that you can get the work done faster. I know you do not want to stay here longer than you have to."

It was then that Eiríkur noticed that one of the people running around the room was not a Dwarf. Among the mechanics weaving in and out of the machines, though they were all the same size, one was not like the others. "Is that a human child?" he asked, interrupting the conversation and pointing across the room toward the one he had noticed. It appeared to be a human child, thinner than the Dwarves, though about the same size, though his clothing was ill fitting and he was filthy with dirt and grease. The child had been peeking at them from around the side of one of the generators, but disappeared moments after being noticed.

Baldrick turned to see the child disappear behind the machines and hesitated a moment before he nodded. "Yes, it is. Peter, his name is. Boy's an orphan, his parents died in a mining accident and then he had no one to take care of him. So we took him in and we take care of him in return for his help working on the machines. He has been doing it most of his life now, one of the best mechanics we have despite his age."

"How old is he?" Aleksander asked in alarm. He might not have seen more than a glimpse of the boy, but anyone who could blend in with the Dwarves, at least with their size, could not have been very old, younger than Eiríkur, certainly.

"I do not quite know, he was still a little thing when we found him," Baldrick replied. "I suppose no more than about twelve."

"And you let him work on these things?" Eiríkur asked. The boy was much to young to be around machines that could be so potentially dangerous. Though it would not surprise any of them if the Dwarves did not know how dangerous these contraptions could be.

"Of course," Baldrick obviously saw nothing wrong with the situation because he was more surprised by their alarm than by what was happening. "It is quite useful to have someone who is his size to fit into the smaller compartments. Although he will not be much smaller. He has been growing alarmingly fast recently."

That sounded about right for his estimated age. The boy was probably growing like a weed now and would soon be taller than the Dwarves who had raised him. The five men shared a look that told they were all concerned about this situation. Eiríkur might have been a school dropout, but even he did not like to see a child of that age used for such hard manual labor with obviously so little care for his well being. But none of them said anything because they were already treading on thin ice with the Dwarves, and to argue with them about something like this might ruin their chances of peacefully obtaining what they needed on this planet. So the subject was dropped and Baldrick seemed to forget about it when the men did not say anything more.

"Well, I am sure that you would like to get to work now?" Baldrick said, turning his attention to Berwald. "Or maybe you would like to rest first?"

Berwald shook his head. "I c'n start," he assured. In fact he was eager to get started because the amount of work that needed to be done was so high. He did not know how long it would take, so he wanted to get started as soon as possible so they could be done as soon as possible. He was not exactly comfortable in the Dwarven subterranean city.

"Wonderful!" Baldrick smiled and clapped his hands together. "You may use any of the mechanics as you see fit, I will leave them all under your supervision. I truly hope that you will be able to help us."

"And when he fixes it," Mathias butted in to ensure that their deal was remembered, "We'll get that key?"

Baldrick turned to him and nodded, though not until after a moment of hesitation. "Of course. You have my word."

"Alright then," Mathias smiled. "Better get to work, then!" He slapped Berwald on the back and turned around to leave the room. "I want to see some more of this place. Do you have any food?"

Berwald stopped paying attention to the others; he had work to do. He was only vaguely away of how Baldrick lead the other four back out of the generator room and back into the corridor. The engineer had more important things on his mind, like where he would even get started on these things. From the corner of his eye he saw the other workers, the Dwarves, stop what they were doing and look to him curiously. They were probably waiting for orders, but Berwald did not want to give them any. Until he knew what he was working with there would be no need for help. So he dismissed them for now with the assurance that he would call them again when he needed the extra hands, which he was sure he would at some point.

The Dwarves left, but the little Human boy remained. He hovered by the doorway while Berwald rolled up his sleeves and approached the first generator in the line. The engineer ignored him for a while, until the eyes boring into his back became enough to distract him and he turned around. Of course, as soon as the boy was caught staring he froze in panic, eyes wide and shrinking down under the force of Berwald's gaze. The engineer sighed and made an honest effort to soften his features, but it did not do much. "C'me here," he said, motioning for the boy to come over to him.

Like a dog with its tail between its legs, the boy shuffled over, obviously ready to be scolded or worse, and waited for what would come next. But Berwald did not hit him or yell at him. "Yer name's Peter, right?" the tall man asked. The boy only nodded silently. "M' not used t' these machines, maybe you c'n help me," he suggested.

Immediately Peter's fear melted away, and although some of the nervousness remained it was probably only because the boy was not used to strangers. "Yes! I can help you," he said, nodding excitedly. "I know them really well. I can help you with whatever you need."

"Good," Berwald nodded and patted the boy on the head. "N' I left my tools on our ship, so d' you think you'd let me use some 'f yours?" he asked.

"Yes, anything you need," the boy told him again, and he was obviously eager to help out. And Berwald was glad. Even if the boy was really too small to be working on such heavy machinery, his familiarity with the machines would be helpful, and Berwald would be careful to keep him out of harms way.

"'Lright," the engineer nodded again, satisfied with the answers he received. "Let's get t' work then."

* * *

Meanwhile, Mathias, Aleksander, Eiríkur and Tino were lead down more corridors toward somewhere they could eat, because that was what Mathias demanded, and the others were more or less happy to follow him along in this case. Though not particularly hungry, there was certainly no harm in partaking in what their hosts offered.

They were shown to the kitchen, where they loaded up plates and ate a quick but hardy and decidedly unique meal before heading back to check on Berwald and then make themselves at home in the dormitory to wait out the rest of their stay, however long it would be.

But their walk back and the relatively amicable conversation – what passed as amicable conversation for them, was interrupted when suddenly an enormous crash echoed down the corridor toward them.

The explosion shook the very earth, stopping everyone in their tracks. Then there came the wave of heat, rushing down the tunnel like a burning wind. "That came from the generator room," Aleksander said quietly, looking back down the hall in the direction they had come.

"Berwald," Tino breathed in horror, and was off running before anyone could stop him.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Svartálfaheim_ – The underground realm of the Dwarves (sometimes called Dark Elves). Svartálfaheim and Niðaviller may be two names for the same world or Niðaviller may be a place within Svartálfaheim.


	11. Near Death Experience

The explosion shook the very earth, stopping everyone in their tracks. Then there came the wave of heat, rushing down the tunnel like a burning wind. "That came from the generator room," Aleksander said quietly, looking back down the hall in the direction they had come.

"Berwald," Tino breathed in horror, and was off running before anyone could stop him.

"No, Tino, wait!" And Mathias was off after him like a shot. He caught up to the smaller man just in time to stop him from running into the generator room. It was in flames. The heat coming through the doorway burned Mathias' eyes and he could not see anything within except red hot tongues of fire.

"No! Berwald! He's in there! Berwald!" Tino screamed and fought, struggling to get free of Mathias' grasp and it was all the captain could do to keep hold of him. Despite his size, Tino's little body held a lot of power.

"No, Tino, no!" Mathias gritted his teeth as he held onto the smaller man, holding him back from the flames. "You can't go in there, you'll die!"

"But Berwald's in there!" Tino screamed in protest.

"You can't do anything for him now, you can't go in there." Already the corridor was filling with people, Aleksander and Eiríkur had caught up with them and Dwarves were coming from every direction to see what had happened. Somewhere a siren had started wailing.

"No! Berwald!" Tino's voice cracked and that was when Mathias realized he was crying. That was why his struggles had become less fierce. "Berwald. Berwald," Tino sobbed and fell limp in Mathias' arms when he realized he was not going to get free, repeating his lover's name over and over as he stared at the flame engulfed doorway.

The Dwarves began shouting to each other, directions, already organizing to put out the flames. These people were always prepared for every situation. From somewhere a hose appeared and was attached to one of the pipes running along the ceiling. When it was turned on steam shot from the nozzle and into the wall of fire. They had tapped into an exhaust pipe and were now using that waste gas and water vapor to put out the flames.

Tino could not take his eyes off the doorway as the Dwarves worked to put out the flames. His heart thundered in his chest so hard he felt he could barely breathe. This could not be happening. But the heat from the flames and the pain from Mathias' arms wrapped around him too tightly meant it was not just some horrible nightmare, no matter how hard he wished it to be.

Eventually the flames died down slightly. Smoke billowed out of the room, clogging the passageway they stood in. Anyone not needed to help dowse the flames left so they would not be choked by the ash and smoke. Tino refused to leave. He did not even move when Mathias finally released him. Maybe he was going into shock.

"Aleks, stay here with him," Mathias said, looking to his crewman as he began stripping off his unnecessary clothing. Weapons, scarf, everything from his pockets he dumped unceremoniously on the ground. "I'm going in there."

"Are you insane?" Aleksander demanded, his usually blank face showing a hint of concern, or maybe anger. None the less, he stepped up to Tino's side and wrapped an arm around the gunman's trembling shoulders. "It's too dangerous."

Mathias merely shrugged. "You heard Tino, Berwald is in there."

"And since when have you ever cared about Berwald's well being?" Aleksander snapped.

Mathias laughed and spit on his hands. "You should ask if I ever stopped," he corrected. And before anyone could argue against him he was off, throwing himself through the spray of the hose and into the burning room. He did not even hear the others shout his name in protest. Soon everything was drowned out except the suffocating heat and the smoke clogged air. Mathias pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose for what little protection it might offer his lungs. Already he was coughing, though, and the smoke stung his eyes so he could hardly see. "Berwald, you asshole, where are you?" he shouted, but received no answer.

Trying to ignore how the flames licked toward his body as their fuel ran out and they searched for anything flammable, he made his way further into the room, straining to see through the smoke for any sign of the other man. After a few false sightings that turned out only to be piles of rubble, Mathias finally found him. He rushed across the floor toward the hunched figure lying on its side facing the cement wall and curled up around something. "Berwald!" he shouted again as he fell to his knees and reached out to check on the other man. And then immediately he froze in horror. This was Berwald, certainly, and he did not look as terrible as Mathias had feared. What shocked him was that the man was not alone. The tall engineer lay curled protectively around the body of the young human boy they had seen earlier that day. Berwald was unconscious, the hair around his temple and hairline slick with blood, but the boy was awake and when he realized that they were no longer alone he opened his eyes and looked up at Mathias.

"Shit," Mathias breathed. The boy was obviously terrified; his face was streaked with tears that had washed lines through the soot on his face. "Come on, you need to get out of here," he said, and reached forward to grab him. But the boy held on to Berwald's shirt and refused to let go. "Come on, kid, it's not safe in here!" Mathias insisted.

"No, what about him?" the boy choked out.

"I can only carry one of you at a time, and I'm not leaving you in here," Mathias insisted. "Berwald's tough, he'll be fine." Reluctantly the boy finally nodded his head and let go of the engineer's shirt. Without hesitation Mathias scooped him up into his arms and turned around. He squinted through the smoke and hunched over as he hurried back to the door way, bursting out into the clearer air in a fit of coughing.

"Mathias!" Eiríkur ran over to his side as he set the boy down and helped hold him steady as he regained his breath. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," the overzealous captain tried to brush it off, as he always did. "Berwald's still in there, I'm going to go back."

"It's too dangerous!" Aleksander protested, his arms still wrapped around Tino, who seemed to have come back to reality but had not yet stopped crying.

That was all the motivation that Mathias needed. These were his crew members. His friends. His family. "He's unconscious. I have to get him out of there." However dangerous it was for him, it was more dangerous for Berwald, who would not be able to take care of himself. So he ignored further protests, though there weren't any, and took a deep breath of clear air before diving back into the inferno.

This time it was much quicker, he knew exactly where to go. But Berwald was a lot heavier than a malnourished twelve year old. And larger than Mathias, though not significantly, but enough that carrying him was nigh impossible. He was dead weight in the captain's arms, so Mathias resorted to looping his arms under Berwald's and around his chest and dragging him backward toward the door. Berwald was not light, and Mathias was not as strong as he bragged. But Mathias was determined, and he heaved him across the floor until they finally emerged into the corridor.

"Berwald!" Tino was instantly at his side, helping to pull him the last few steps out into the hallway where they were safe. Then he collapsed to his knees, lavender eyes wide and hands moving over the Swede's face and chest to tell if he was still alive. He pressed his ear to Berwald's chest, straining to hear that familiar heartbeat over all the other commotion. It was there, faint, but there, and Tino let out a sob of relief when he was certain it was more than his own wishful thinking.

"Is he alive?" Tino raised his head to see the young boy kneeling at Berwald's other side. He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. Yes, Berwald was alive, and Tino had never been more relieved in his entire life. "Will he be okay?" he boy asked softly.

But Tino did not know. Berwald was unconscious, his heartbeat weak and his breathing shallow. Eiríkur came and knelt beside him, running his fingers over the blood in Berwald's hair to find the source. "He might have a concussion," the teen replied as he found a gash on the man's temple. And then there were the burns, red and raw, visible through the torn fabric of his shirt. Eiríkur looked up to find Tino and the boy staring at him expectantly, waiting for a verdict. "It'll probably take him a while to recover, but I think he'll be alright," but Eiríkur was not even sure of that himself. He was no medic, he only told Tino what the man wanted to hear to try and comfort him.

Tino visibly relaxed. "Let's get him somewhere safe then," he said, wincing at the squeakiness in his own voice. He was still choking on tears, but now they were of relief and not fear.

"There is already a medic team on the way," Eiríkur informed him, and offered Tino a tiny smile.

Tino returned the smile, though his own was weak and watery. He appreciated the concern his crewmates had shown for him and his lover. Now in his right mind, he realized how much harm he could have done to himself if he had rushed headlong into the fire to try and rescue Berwald. And he would not have been much help anyway.

The medic team arrived with a stretcher that the tall engineer was carefully loaded onto and Tino rose to his feet as they lifted him off the ground. The Dwarves protested his presence, but Tino refused to leave Berwald's side as they started off down the hall.

"C-can I come with you?" the young boy tugged gently on Tino's sleeve and looked up at him with those wide eyes full of tears, making them look even more like the northern oceans. "H-he saved my life..."

Tino knew how that felt, and he nodded, taking the boy's hand in his own as he followed the Dwarven medics. The further they went from the scene of the accident the clearer the air became as the smoke dispersed. Tino had not realized how bad it had been in the corridor until he realized that he was now breathing easier and his eyes did not sting quite so much. At his side, Peter was still sniffling softly as he trotted along, wiping his face with one dirty hand while he held tightly to Tino's with the other. But Tino was only vaguely aware of the boy's presence. All of his attention was focused on the body on the stretcher that the Dwarven medics carried quickly down the corridor.

Finally they came to what Tino could only assume to be the infirmary or hospital, or some sort of medical wing. Pushing through a door that looked like all of the others they carried the stretcher inside and Tino instinctively followed, pulling Peter along with him. Within the room was the cleanest place that Tino had yet seen on this planet. There was not dust covering every horizontal surface, the walls and floor were smooth and polished. Beds were lined up along one wall much like they were in the dormitory where the men were staying, but much further apart to provide room for the doctors and medics to work. The medics brought Berwald to one of these beds now, though it was woefully too short for the tall man, like everything else in this underground settlement, and his feet hung off the end of the mattress. Tino tried to follow them to his bedside, but was blocked by one of the Dwarves, who looked up at him with a frown on his tight, angular features.

"Leave them room to work," the Dwarf ordered sternly, placing a hand on Tino's chest to keep the man from moving any farther.

And though Tino was taller than the Dwarf he was not certain he would be able to push past him if he had tried. So he stayed where he was, just inside the door and looking over the heads of the medics to try and see what was going on. "Is he going to be okay?" the sniper asked, unconsciously tightening his grip on Peter's hand enough to make the boy wince slightly.

"He has inhaled a lot of smoke and suffered some burns," the Dwarf replied, "He probably has a concussion. Physically, he should recover, but we cannot tell how bad the head injury is until he wakes. And we will also not be able to tell if the smoke damaged his lungs until we can examine him thoroughly."

Tino bit his lip nervously and prayed silently that Berwald would wake soon. It was not enough to have him recover physically. Then a tugging at his sleeve reminded him of the young boy at his side and Tino looked down at him. Suddenly he realized how tightly he was holding Peter's hand and quickly released it. "I'm sorry," he said quickly.

"Berwald's going to be okay, right?" the boy asked softly.

"I hope so," Tino replied. He could not bring himself to sugar coat the situation, even for a child. Peter did not look at all comforted by his words, either.

"I don't want him to die, I like him," Peter said.

"Me too," Tino told him. "I like him a lot, I would be sad if he died." Peter stared up at him, blue eyes full of childish innocence and fear. His face was still streaked with tears and soot and it made him look even more pitiful and heart wrenching. Unable to look at that heartbreaking face, Tino pulled the end of his sleeve over his hand and scrubbed at the boy's cheeks, rubbing off as much of the tears and soot as he could. He cleaned off the boy's face as much as possible but ended up with little more than a dirty sleeve to show for his efforts. The boy had been so caked in filth that it was little help. How had they been letting him live like this?

"Hey... You're Tino, aren't you?" Peter opened his eyes again when Tino was finished scrubbing at his skin.

The question surprised Tino, because they had never been introduced. "Yes," he replied.

"Berwald talked about you," Peter informed him.

"He... He did?" Tino asked in surprise.

Peter nodded, shaking ash out of his dirty blond hair. "It's easy to tell you're the one he was talking about."

"Why is that?" Tino's brows furrowed curiously.

"He said Tino was the most beautiful man in the whole universe," Peter replied. "And that he was really kind even though he likes to pretend to be tough. And you're really nice and pretty, so you must be Tino. You don't have to pretend to be tough, though, because Berwald knows you are and he likes it better when you don't try to act like Mathias. Who's Mathias?"

But Tino could not respond. Berwald had said all of those things about him. Berwald, who never spoke a word more than he needed to, talked about him to a complete stranger for no apparent reason. How had Tino ever doubted that he was the most loving man in the entire universe?

"Tino?" Peter tugged on his sleeve and looked up at him curiously. "Why are you crying?"

Was he crying? Tino reached a hand up to his cheeks and he could feel moisture there. He was crying. "I... I don't know," he replied, completely shocked by his own reaction.

"You shouldn't cry," Peter told him, "I'm sure Berwald wouldn't want you to cry."

That was probably true, Tino had to admit, so he took a deep breath and tried to stop his tears, swallowing the lump in his throat. "You're right," he replied softly. "I'm sorry."

Over at the bedside the medics had begun their work while the man and boy stood talking, and now suddenly a commotion had started up that drew Tino and Peter's attention. At first they could not tell what had changed, and then Tino heard a low groan, slightly pained and definitely tired, and he recognized instantly. "He's awake," he breathed, and quickly pushed past their Dwarven guard before he could be stopped and rushed to the bedside, pushing through the medics while he had the element of surprise to aid him. "Berwald?"

The engineer had his eyes open and was looking around, confused and disoriented. When he heard Tino's voice, though, his gaze instantly snapped to him and Tino breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the recognition in those eyes. A fear he had not realized he had been holding lifted from his heart and he hurried forward to take hold of the man's hand. "I'm so glad you're okay," Tino sighed.

"You can't stay here," one of the Dwarven medics frowned disapprovingly and grabbed Tino's free arm, attempting to pull him away from the bedside and make him get out of their way. In response, Berwald's hold on Tino's hand tightened and he frowned at the Dwarf. But the medic did not waver under Berwald's stare, which was an unusual occurrence. "The medics need proper space to work," the Dwarf said sternly.

But Tino did not want to leave the man's side. The explosion and the worry and fear that had consumed him while he did not know whether Berwald was alive or not, and then the relief he had felt when Mathias dragged Berwald's still breathing, though injured, body from the flames. All of that told him what he had been too frightened or stubborn to admit even to himself. He was in love with this man.

The Dwarven medic saw the determination in Tino's eyes, but did not let down so easily. Perhaps he could sympathize with the man, but he would not let that get in the way of his work. "He has many wounds that need treating and it would be best if we could do so as quickly as possible," the Dwarf said sternly. "We can work best if we have full access to the patient."

"I won't leave him," Tino said stubbornly.

"Your presence is hindering our ability to treat him. It is hindering his recovery," the Dwarf replied.

"S'okay, T'no."

Tino was startled to hear Berwald speak. The man's voice was rough and gravelly, even harder to understand than normal. And it was weak, painfully weak. "Berwald…" Tino started to argue. How could he possibly leave when Berwald sounded like that?

"'ll be 'kay," the engineer tried weakly to reassure him. His grip on Tino's hand went slack, but Tino did not yet release him. He clutched Berwald's hand for a long moment more before finally, reluctantly, loosening his grip and letting go of the man's hand. Then the medics were quick to push him away from the bedside so that they could get to work treating Berwald's injuries.

"Tino…" Peter had found his way to the gunman's side again and tugged on his jacket. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah…" Tino took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. "I think so." Seeing Berwald awake and with no damage more serious than treatable cuts and bruises had done a lot to ease his fears.

And by now the others had showed up, Mathias, Aleksander and Eiríkur came through the doorway. Mathias was still coughing some, which was probably what had slowed them down. Tino took Peter's hand within his own, because it was comforting to know that someone else was as worried about Berwald as he was, and lead the boy over to them.

"How is he?" Aleksander asked, looking over at the bustling medics who blocked their view of the engineer.

"He's going to be fine, they think," Tino replied. "Some burns and probably a concussion. But he's awake now, so that's good."

A tiny smile tried to form on Aleksander's face, but was not terribly successful. "That's good news. I'm sure he'll be fine in a few days. And how're you?" he asked, looking down at Peter.

The boy looked absolutely shocked to be addressed. "I'm fine," he assured with a quick nod of his head. "Berwald protected me."

"That doesn't surprise me," that smile finally managed to make itself noticeable on Aleksander's face.

"Well, I'm glad everyone's okay and no one's going to be dying today," Mathias said, and coughed dryly into his hand once. "But how are we going to get that key now? We were supposed to fix their generator, not blow it up. I doubt there's anything left to fix now."

"But Berwald wasn't trying to blow it up!" Peter insisted, fisting his hand and looking up at Mathias with horrified eyes. "He really was trying to fix it! And he was doing a really good job; he's really good with machines and stuff. But something went wrong when we tried to turn it on and there was nothing he could do to stop it! It wasn't his fault!"

"Woah, there. Slow down kid," Mathias chuckled softly and reached out to pat Peter's head. "I never said I thought it was his fault. I know Berwald, and I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt such an important piece of machinery. I'm just worried what the others will think. They were taking a big leap of faith just letting us in here, after all."

"Well, I'll tell them!" Peter said, determined. "I'll tell them it wasn't Berwald's fault!"

"And I'm sure that'll help, kid. Thanks," Mathias grinned at him, and Peter's face broke out in a happy smile. It was the kind of reaction that Mathias was extremely good at getting out of people.


	12. Politics

They waited for the medics to finish treating Berwald in strained silence. Tino worried still, but not quite as much as he had before. Peter eventually grew tired, so Tino sat down with him on one of the other beds and stayed with him while the boy lay down to take a nap. It had been a very stressful day for all of them; Tino felt exhausted himself, but he could not rest now, he wanted to be awake when the medics finished so he could see for himself that the man had been well cared for and was on the road to recovery.

At some point one of the medics had come by to check on Mathias and Peter. Mathias was breathing much easier now and there appeared to be no real damage to his lungs. Peter was in even better shape, Berwald had managed to protect him from the blast so that he had neither burns nor anything more harmful than a scrape on his knee, and his young lungs had been better able to deal with the smoke. His coughing had subsided even before Mathias'.

It felt like ages, but was really only a few hours before the medics finished assessing Berwald's condition and treating his wounds. Once the tall man was all bandaged up they allowed the others to come and see him. Tino was, of course, the first one there, quick to hop off the bed he was seated on and run over to the man's bedside.

Berwald had a bandage wrapped around his forehead. His shirt had been removed and other bandages covered his arms and part of his back, which had taken the brunt of the explosion. His skin had not been washed except where there had been injuries to treat, so he was oddly spotted with soot and grease amidst clean bandaged portions.

"Berwald," Tino grabbed onto an uninjured portion of the man's arm as he reached his bedside and looked into his face. Berwald cracked open his eyes and offered the smaller man a weak quirk of his lips that generally passed as a smile for him. Tino noticed that his glasses were cracked, though they remained securely perched on his nose despite everything. "How are you feeling?" Tino asked softly.

Berwald opened his mouth and took a deep breath before he managed to speak. "… Hurts," he grunted out.

"But the medics think you're going to be okay. It's just some burns and some cuts and bruises. Nothing serious. You were really lucky, Berwald," Tino informed him.

The engineer nodded very faintly. "Wh't 'bout Peter?" he asked.

"He's fine, the boy's fine," Tino assured him. "Hardly a scratch on him. You did really good, Berwald, keeping him safe."

"G'd," Berwald's lips quirked again slightly and he closed his eyes.

"Berwald?" Tino asked, concerned for a moment until he realized that the man had simply fallen asleep again. The gunman sighed faintly.

"How is he?"

Tino looked up to see that the others had also come to the bedside and offered them a weak smile. "He's alright," the sniper assured them. "He's still in pain, but he's sleeping now… I think he'll be okay."

"That's good," Mathias smiled and leaned over to get a better look at the engineer. "Man, he's pretty beat up. But I'm glad he's not too badly hurt."

"Thank you, Mathias," Tino said, looking up at the captain earnestly, "For going in there and saving him. He could have been in much worse shape if you hadn't gotten him out of there. And I know it was really risky for you. So really, thank you."

Mathias looked like he did not know how to respond. He shifted from foot to foot and looked anywhere but at Tino and Berwald. "Sheesh, you don't have to put it like that. You were about to run in there yourself, you know? And you all would have done the same for me, right?"

"Sure," Tino shrugged, "But I always thought you hated Berwald. I guess you don't, though."

"Well don't get the wrong idea," Mathias was quick to answer, looking flustered and quickly turning away from them entirely. "It's just that I don't want him to die because then I'd have to find another engineer. And we'd have to head back to Chariot to get one before being able to go on to Asgard. So… Ja, I just don't want him to die because it would be too big of a pain to replace him."

Tino shared a knowing smile with Aleksander. "Alright, if you say so," the gunman replied. Mathias obviously thought his reputation of hating Berwald was important, so they would let him keep up the farce.

"But anyway," Mathias tried to brush it off and change the topic. Talking about his feelings for the mechanic was not something he felt comfortable doing. They had a well established relationship of mutual pretend hatred, and he did not want to ruin that. "Now I'm more worried about whether we'll be able to get that key. I don't think blowing up the generators counts as fixing them."

It was just then that Baldrick, the Dwarven mayor, came bustling into the room as if on cue, his eyes wide in his face as he came hurrying into the infirmary and looked around until he spotted the men hovered around the bed. "Oh dear!" he gasped, and headed over to them, wringing his hands nervously. "I came as soon as I heard what happened. Your man is injured? How bad is it? I hope he will recover fully."

"Yes, Berwald was injured," Aleksander confirmed as he turned around to face the Dwarven leader. "Your medics did a good job treating him, though, and they think he will recover fully."

Baldrick breathed a sigh of relief. "I am very relieved to hear this. I would have felt terribly guilty if he had been injured while attempting to help us. I had no idea that the generators were in such bad shape that they would do this or I would not have even allowed him inside."

"Well, then you are very lucky that Berwald is a hardy man," Aleksander informed him. "He could have been very seriously injured in this accident. And he sustained a number of his injuries protecting one of yours. That boy you have working on the generators was in there with him, and he would certainly be dead now if Berwald had not protected him from most of the blast."

"Oh dear, oh goodness!" Baldrick floundered. Clearly that information had not been relayed to him. "He is alright, then, I assume? Not too badly injured?"

"Yes," Tino replied, stepping forward, "Peter is fine."

"That is also good to hear," Baldrick nodded. "I hope that you are not too angry with us for what has happened."

"Angry, no," Aleksander replied. "But we are disappointed. This is not what we expected. Though I recognize that no one is to blame for the failure of the generators except perhaps your mechanics for not keeping the machines in better shape."

Baldrick nodded again. "Yes, well, I will agree with you on that part. I know little of the mechanics of those machines myself, so I cannot say the cause of their failure. Perhaps when your man awakes he will be able to tell us what happened."

"I'm more concerned about our deal," Mathias spoke up, bored with all this diplomacy and careful avoiding of blame. He was ready to point fingers, and would do so happily. "You said if Berwald fixed your generators we would get that key. But, obviously, now he can't do that, even if there were enough of those generators left to fix."

"No, no, he certainly cannot, and I understand why you would not want him to work on our machines again after what has happened," Baldrick replied, and began fidgeting nervously. "In this case I feel, however, that I cannot uphold my end of the deal. He did not succeed in repairing the machines."

Mathias grumbled, but it was not entirely unexpected. In fact, it was exactly what they had feared. "So then, what can we do now to get it from you? I think we deserve some sort of compensation for what happened here. Our engineer won't be able to work for weeks like this. We'll be grounded, and if you hadn't made us come up with this deal in the first place, it wouldn't be a problem."

"Are you suggesting this is our fault?" Baldrick asked, drawing back in alarm. "Might I remind you that it was your idea that he fix our generators."

"Well if I'd known that they were going to blow up on him and some little kid then I wouldn't have suggested it," Mathias snapped in reply.

"It was certainly not my intention that your man or the child be injured while you were here," Baldrick argued, becoming furious.

"Everyone calm down." Aleksander interrupted, stepping between the two with a hand on Mathias' chest before the captain could say anything to further the argument. Mathias had never been very good at negotiation, he was much better at starting fights, so Aleksander took over for him to try and avoid creating an incident. "What happened here was no one's fault. Accidents like this happen. Though I cannot help thinking that if your people had been more aware of their problem this could have been avoided. If the mechanics had been aware of how badly the generators were failing and how dangerous they were, maybe no one would have tried to do anything. Now, because of your negligence, Berwald is injured."

Baldrick stiffened, and it was obvious that he was still upset. "I can do nothing but apologize for the accident that occurred today. I feel terribly guilty, and of course I will make sure that my mechanics pay better attention to the generators in the future. But as you did not uphold your end of the deal, I cannot fulfill mine, either."

"Berwald was unable to uphold our part of the deal, and you know that," Aleksander argued. "It was through no fault of our own that he was unable to finish. And for all we know, your mechanics might have been aware of the condition of the generators. We waited above ground for quite a long time while your people ran around down here. For all we know you knew the generators were beyond repair and only offered this deal to placate us and get us to leave peacefully."

"That is quite an accusation!" Baldrick exclaimed indignantly.

"Yes it is. But you have done us great harm here, not only Berwald was injured, but Mathias risked his life as well to save him and the child. And of course this has caused Tino a great amount of stress," Aleksander said, pointing to each of those he spoke about in turn. And his voice rose in fervor the longer he spoke. Usually nearly void of emotions in all matters, Aleksander was beginning to show just how upset he was about all this. "You have done well in treating Berwald, but it is still unknown how well he will recover. What if his injuries become infected? This could be much worse than it already is. It is only fair that we ask for some sort of compensation for everything we have been put through while being guests in your city."

"I am terribly sorry for all that you have suffered," Baldrick said again. "But my people have agreed to house and feed you for the duration of your stay here and they have treated all injuries. I really do not think that there is any more that we can do."

"Our stay is going to end as soon as Berwald is well enough to be moved," Aleksander snapped. "You know very well that without those generators running it is only a matter of days before the air in here become so stagnant that is will be impossible to live. I would hardly call one night sleeping in a dormitory or in this infirmary along with the one meal that we have had sufficient payment for what has happened. Berwald made a valiant effort to repair your machines and was seriously injured in the process. That deserves more than a passing apology and the promise of good hospitality, a promise that you cannot even uphold."

"What do you ask, then? What payment will you find sufficient to assuage your griefs?" Baldrick asked curtly, finally fed up with this arguing.

"We want the Asgard key," Aleksander replied easily. "You said yourself that you are not using it and would not be averse to parting with it."

The Dwarf shook his head. "I am afraid that I cannot give you that."

"Why not?" Mathias demanded.

Baldrick stared up at them with a stern frown on his face, his lips pressed into a thin line. "It is simply too high a price," he said stubbornly.

"You know very well that we will not be leaving this planet until we have it," Aleksander informed him. "You would do well to hand it over, it will make things easier for everyone."

"Are you threatening me?" Baldrick gaped at them.

"You bet we are!" Mathias replied. He was fed up with negotiating. Diplomacy had been tried, and it had failed. Now it was time to do things his way. "I thought we'd be able to get this key as easy as the others, but if you want to go about it the hard way I'm sure Tino wouldn't mind shooting a few of your people in return for what happened to Berwald." As he spoke he cocked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate Tino, who was still holding onto Berwald's hand and watching over the whole heated exchange with concern written over his features. "He doesn't look like much, but Tino's pretty scary when he gets angry, and I wouldn't want him to think that you don't care at all about his lover's well being."

Baldrick stiffened on the spot. "I never said that I do not care about the man's health. I deeply regret what happened here today."

"Not as deeply as you're going to regret not giving over the key," Mathias told him, his voice low. "I've already seen one of my crew seriously injured while we were here, I don't want to get in a firefight with your people and risk injuring another. But I will if I have to."

"You would attack an innocent people simply to get an old trinket?" Baldrick asked in horror.

"You bet your ass I would," Mathias told him coldly. "You have no idea what I'm capable of, or the rest of my crew. We aren't men of strong morals, as I'm sure you've already noticed. If we can't get what we want through peaceful means, then we'll take it by force. I don't have a problem with shooting you down where you stand. Do any of you?" Mathias looked over his shoulder at the three of his crew who were awake and was met with three cold stares and solemn shakes of heads. Even Tino, who was usually protested against pointless acts of violence, looked like he would not mind unloading a few rounds into the Dwarven leader.

"You see," Mathias continued, turning back to the Dwarf and leaning over him threateningly. "We play nice when we can, but sometimes we can't. And we need this key, so you can either hand it over, or we will take it. It's as simple as that."

Baldrick stared at the men with horror in his eyes. He had clearly underestimated them, never thought them willing to go to such lengths to get what he considered a useless trinket, an antique good for nothing more than decoration. But the look in Mathias' eyes told him everything he needed to know. These men meant business, and they were not to be taken lightly. "Alright," he agreed finally. "I'll get you your trinket. But I want you out of my city immediately. I want you out whether this one is well enough to leave or not. And I never want to see a trace of you here again."

"I think we can deal with that," Mathias replied, and stood up straight again. "Now you run along and get that for us. Tino, Eiríkur, figure out a way to get Berwald back to the ship. I don't want to spend any longer on this piece of rock than we have to."

Baldrick turned around and all but ran from the chamber, though he tried to retain as much dignity as he could while he did so.

\----------

While Baldrick ran off to get the artifact for them, Tino and Eiríkur tried to figure out the easiest way to transport Berwald in the condition he was in. They eventually decided that putting him back on the stretcher he had been brought to the infirmary on was the best idea, and then two of them would be able to carry him back to the surface and onto the ship, where they might not have very sophisticated medical supplies, but at least they had a bed that fit him properly.

Tino was loath to wake up the injured man, but they needed to in order to get him onto the stretcher with as little trouble as possible. Berwald was still extremely tired and in pain, mostly from the burns he had suffered. But he did his best to help them maneuver his body onto the stretcher because there was definitely no way he would be walking all the way back to the ship. He fell asleep again shortly after, from exhaustion and pain, and Aleksander began pilfering the medical supplies from the infirmary, shoving antibiotics and bandages into a bag to take with them.

Everyone moved as quickly as they could, and all this commotion woke the little Human child who had fallen asleep and been largely forgotten. Peter rubbed his eyes and sat up, then watched in confusion for a while as the four men bustled about the room. "Where are you going?" he asked when he realized that they were all preparing to leave.

He had been so forgotten that the men were startled to hear him speak. "Oh, Peter," Tino said, remembering him for the first time since Berwald had awoken. "We have to leave, go back to our ship and leave."

"You mean leave the planet?" the boy asked in alarm.

"Yes," Tino confirmed, "We can't stay here any longer."

"Take me with you, then!" Peter exclaimed, and hopped off of the bed he had been napping on.

This startled Tino even more, and he looked back at his crewmates helplessly. He would not have minded taking the boy with them, but their ship was not exactly a good place for a young child, and neither was the place they were headed after leaving this planet. When he received only similarly helpless looks from his crewmates Tino turned back to the boy and lay a hand on his shoulder. "We can't take you with us, Peter. We're going somewhere that might be very dangerous, and we wouldn't want you to get hurt. It's better for you to stay here where you'll be safe."

"But I hate it here!" Peter complained. "And I'm not safe here! Look what happened today!" He clenched his little hands into fists and looked up at Tino pleadingly. "I don't want to stay here. No one likes me, they all hate me. But I like you, and I like Berwald. I want to stay with you."

Tino looked over at his crew mates again. The boy made a good point. It was not necessarily any safer for him here. He did not fit in and from the looks of things he was being mistreated by the Dwarves. Was it really any worse than anything they would face on their ship?

"No way," Mathias shook his head. "There's not enough space on Hofvar. We're too cramped as it is. We can't afford to be picking up strays."

"But Mathias, he can't stay here. Look how they've been treating him," Tino entreated. It was true, there wasn't really space for another person on their ship, even a child as small as Peter.

"We'd have to cut rations even more if we brought him along," Mathias argued. "And where would he sleep?"

"I can move in with Berwald," Tino offered, much to the surprise of the others. After the words had left his mouth Tino realized their implication and blushed faintly. "I mean… I'd have to ask him first, but I don't think it'll be a problem. And if it is, then Peter can share my room. I don't mind. We can't leave him here, Mathias."

"Tino, I know how you feel, but we just can't take him," Mathias said again.

"I agree with Tino," Eiríkur spoke up.

Mathias scoffed, "Well of course you do."

"You got a problem with that?" Eiríkur snapped defensively. "This isn't a place for a kid like him. Look at him! Look what they've been making him do!" Perhaps he just sympathized because of the similarity of their situations, but Eiríkur did not like the idea of leaving the boy here to continue being mistreated.

"You honestly think he'll be any better off with us?" Mathias asked.

"Of course I do," Eiríkur insisted.

"We at least need to get him off this planet," Aleksander agreed. "Let's take him with us. He can bunk with Tino and we'll drop him off next time we're at the Chariot if we have to. Eiríkur's right, this isn't a place for a kid like him. He at least deserves to be with other Humans. I'm sure we can find someone on Chariot to take him in, or maybe on one of the colonies."

Mathis sighed and threw his hands up in the air. "I thought I was supposed to be captain," he grumbled. "Fine, we'll take the kid with us off this rock. But he sleeps with Tino and gets the same rations as everyone else and he doesn't get in the way. And he's off as soon as we find somewhere nice to leave him, alright? Happy?"

Tino beamed and he could have hugged Mathias, but he hugged Peter instead. "Thank you," he said to the captain, and squeezed Peter. "Let's get out of here, then."

\----------

They left Svartálfaheim with the third key and a new, albeit temporary, crew member. While they left the underground city, hurrying as much as they could while carrying Berwald on the stretcher, Peter trotted alongside their little group.

Emerging from the underground, they realized just how stuffy and stagnant the air down there had been when the breeze from above hit their faces. But there was not time to stop and enjoy it. They hurried back to their ship and while Eiríkur and Tino got Berwald back into his quarters and comfortably in bed, Aleksander got them off the ground. Peter hovered around on the ship, trying not to get in the way while Tino re-checked Berwald's wounds to see if any of the bandages had come loose from all the jostling. Eiríkur and Mathias ran up to the bridge to be with Aleksander while the ship headed toward the outer atmosphere.

The boy felt lost, but he also felt hopeful. He did not know very much about these men or what they did, but unlike the Dwarves who barely paid any attention to him, they seemed to care about his well being. And that was definitely worth something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations! You have reached the end of what I wrote for NaNoWriMo. You have read over 50,000 words, you should be very proud of yourself.


	13. Hrimthurs

While Berwald recovered Tino spent most of his time in the engineer's quarters looking after him, bringing him food and drinks and tending to his wounds whenever the bandages needed changing. Sometimes Peter would come in and sit with him, but the boy spent most of his time holed up in the room he now technically shared with Tino, though it was beginning to look like the two men might actually move in together.

Berwald lay on his stomach, stretched out so as to give the least irritation to the raw skin on his back. It was unbandaged at the moment while Tino checked on them. The little gunman sat on the edge of the bed, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on applying ointment as carefully as possible to the healing wounds. When he was satisfied with his work he capped the small medicine jar and set it aside. "Alright, sit up and I'll get you some fresh bandages," he instructed.

The engineer did as he was told, cautiously pushing himself up first onto his hands and knees, then sitting back and crossing his legs. His movements were slow, wary of any motion which might cause him too much pain. When finally he was comfortable Tino came to sit behind him with a fresh roll of bandages.

"Y' don' have to keep doin' this," Berwald mumbled before Tino had a chance to start working.

"What do you mean?" Tino asked curiously.

"Y' don' have to take care o' me," Berwald elaborated slightly. "Y' can get one o' the others t' do it."

Hesitantly, Tino stared down at the bandages in his hands. Did Berwald not want him around? Perhaps he had misjudged everything. But Berwald had said he loved him that night. Maybe he had changed his mind and now he found Tino annoying. He had thought Berwald was pleased with their current arrangement, but the man's impassive face was so difficult to read that maybe he had gotten everything backward. "Would you rather someone else helped you? I can get one of the others if you want," he said quietly.

"S'not what I said," Berwald said, frowning in confusion. "Just thought there's somethin' y'd rather be doin' than takin' care o' me."

So Berwald did not want to get rid of him. That was a relief. "There's not," Tino assured him, and began unrolling the bandages so he could wrap them around Berwald's chest.

"There's not?" Berwald repeated.

"No," Tino confirmed. "I like it," he said, and nudged Berwald into lifting his arms so he could begin to wrap the bandages. "I like you," he added.

Berwald felt his face heat up when he heard that, and especially when he felt Tino's breath ghost against the back of his neck as the smaller man reached around his chest. "Y' do?"

"Yes," Tino said. "I like you a lot." He continued the repetitive motion of wrapping the bandages, leaning in each time he reached around Berwald's chest.

"Oh," was all Berwald could manage as a reply.

\----------

Berwald was recovering slowly, but he was recovering. The slow speed most likely had something to do with the less than perfect medical treatment the crew was able to give him. But the burns on his back and arms were healing, while the bruises faded. He was conscious more often in later days and eventually able to sit up on his own. Tino happily announced to the others that he did not think the burns would scar too badly because they were healing quite well.

Because of his slow recovering, Aleksander did not bother to hurry them on their way to Asgard, their final destination. He let the ship float through the stars at a leisurely pace; never pressing the engine too hard while the engineer was out of commission.

It was a fortnight after they left Svartálfaheim before Berwald was on his feet again and Tino helped the tall man to walk slowly from his room to the galley, where Aleksander and Eiríkur cleared the sofa for him to sit down. By now all of his cuts and bruises had healed, leaving only the tender healing skin beneath the bandages on his back and shoulders to cause him pain. He was no longer very weak, but any quick or excessive movement would tug painfully at the healing burns, so he avoided movement as much as possible.

"It's good to see you up and around again," Eiríkur commented after Berwald sat down, and smiled a little as he watched Tino fuss over the large man, making sure he was comfortable before going to get him something to drink. Berwald only grunted in response.

"How are you feeling?" Aleksander asked.

Berwald grunted again, and accepted a glass of water from Tino, which he drank slowly before looking around the room and opening his mouth to speak. "Where's Peter?"

"Probably in my room," Tino replied. "That's where he spends more of his time. Do you want me to go get him?"

Berwald nodded his head slightly and Tino turned around, disappearing out the door and down the hall. Of course it did not take long for Tino to find the young boy and encourage him to come out to spend some time with the rest of the crew, particularly Berwald. He followed Tino into the galley, looking shy and wearing the same ill-fitting and stained clothing they had found him in, though looking a lot cleaner otherwise.

Peter held onto the back of Tino's shirt as they came into the galley, and eyed Mathias warily, too afraid to leave Tino's side until he spotted Berwald sitting on the sofa. Then he immediately went over to the engineer's side and climbed up to sit next to him. "Are you feeling better?" the boy asked softly. Berwald nodded slightly and grunted a reply, raising his hand to pat the boy on the head, tousling his dark blond hair. This made Peter smile, and the boy made himself comfortable sitting down next to the tall man.

"Need t' get y' some new clothes," Berwald said thoughtfully as he looked down at the boy. Peter had been wearing the same thing for at least a month, and almost certainly longer. They did not fit him properly and were threadbare, patched in places and torn at all the hems.

"Where are we supposed to get clothes all the way out here?" Mathias asked from across the room. And it was a good point, a surprise coming from the captain. They were out in the far reaches of the galaxy, an area only scarcely populated by humans, and traveling further from civilization every day.

"Well, when we get back then," Tino replied matter-of-factly. He came over to the sofa bearing a mug of coffee for Berwald and a glass of water for Peter and sat down with the man and boy. "Peter needs more than one outfit. And clothes that fit him properly, too."

Peter's eyes lit up when he heard this. "I can get new clothes?" he asked, looking back and forth between Tino and Berwald excitedly.

"Soon as we're somewhere we can get them," Tino confirmed for him. "We need to get Berwald some new glasses anyway," he added, and looked meaningfully at the cracked lenses sitting in front of Berwald's eyes. "That won't be for a while, though."

"I can wait!" Peter announced confidently. He was excited simply at the prospect of new clothes, and with how long he had been wearing these a few more months would not do him any more harm. The boy stayed with them the whole time Berwald sat in the galley. But it was only a few hours before Tino ushered the still healing man back to bed, ordering the others not to bother them while Berwald was resting.

\----------

"You're really good with kids, Berwald," Tino commented when they were alone in Berwald's quarters.

"Y'think?" Berwald asked as he took up his now-customary position, seated at the head of the bed where he could sit up comfortably and rest against the wall.

"I do," Tino nodded, and flopped down beside him. "I mean, Peter seems to like you a lot. And back on the Chariot there were those kids… Who were those kids anyway?"

"J'st friends," the mechanic mumbled and gave a half-hearted shrug.

"Friends?" Tino looked at him curiously. Grown men did not usually refer to young children as their friends. "None of them were older than Peter."

Berwald just shrugged. "Still m'friends," he replied.

Getting Berwald to talk about anything he did not want to talk about was more painful than pulling teeth, so Tino gave up for now. It did not matter much, he supposed. Although, there was a lot about Berwald he still did not know, a lot which he would really like to know. There was much he did not know about the others, too. But the crew had an unspoken agreement not to talk about their pasts, as the gunman had learned shortly after his arrival. That was an agreement which Tino had been happy with until now, because he was finally starting to see himself as a part of this crew, a part of this family. And he wanted to know more about his family.

\----------

The next day Berwald took his first look at the Hofvar's engines since his injury had incapacitated him. The engine had gone weeks without the constant maintenance he usually gave, and when he saw the state it was now in, Berwald could not help feeling guilty for having let it be for so long. He had brought this ship back from the dead in a junk yard; it was like a child to him, and he had neglected it.

He wanted to get back to work immediately. The whole room needed to be cleaned and so much more. But too much movement was still out of the question. Stretching pulled painfully at the fresh skin on his back, still thin and delicate over stiff muscles.

The engineer did what he could, though. He made sure everything was still in working order and that nothing needed to be replaced right away. Berwald was unwilling to trust anyone else performing this maintenance, though he allowed Peter to help in small ways; cleaning accumulated grease off the moving parts and tightening the occasional loose bolt. The mechanic's regular meticulous care for the engine was in all probability the reason it continued to function perfectly even when untouched for weeks. And even though he did not get to do all of the work he wanted before becoming so tired and sore that he had to stop, Berwald felt better having seen for himself that his child was still in good health.

\----------

The clattering of footsteps coming down the catwalk toward the galley heralded Eiríkur's arrival before his face appeared in the doorway. As he looked in on the other three members of the crew his face belayed some of the excitement he felt. "You'll probably want to come see this," the teen said, and then disappeared again. Mathias, Tino and Berwald shared a curious glance between them before getting up and following him.

On the bridge, Aleksander sat in his usual place and Peter had stolen the copilot's chair, leaving Eiríkur to stand between them. They were all staring intently out the main window at something in the distance.

"What are we looking – Holy shit!" Mathias gaped when he realized what they had been called up for. It took a moment to distinguish from the stars, but the objects stretched out in front of them were not thousands of light years away, but only a few thousand kilometers. Asteroids; thousands of them. As far as the eye could see. "Wow, would you look at that," the captain breathed in amazement, leaning over the control panel to get a good look at the view. His eyes traveled up to the top of the window and he leaned forward to see as far up as he could, then as far down.

Hrimthurs was the largest asteroid belt in the galaxy. So large it effectively blocked off a huge portion of space, surrounding at least one, if not multiple solar systems; hundreds of light years high and hundreds of thousands in length. The area beyond it had never been explored by modern craft. There was simply no easy way to approach the thing from anywhere else in the galaxy if you wanted to get around it. The only option was to go through.

"I do not want to fly through that," Aleksander muttered. And no one could blame him. Flying through an asteroid belt was like flying through a mine field. One wrong move could send you crashing nose first into one of the asteroids.

"But we have to," Mathias eventually replied, pulling his nose away from the window finally to look back at his crew. They could not turn back now that they were nearly at their goal. "There has to be a way through it."  
Eiríkur shooed Peter out of the co-pilot seat and resumed his usual position. "Well, if we believe the old legends, which have proved true until now, the Aesir traveled through this thing all the time. So either they had very good pilots, or there's an easier way through this."

"Can we just blast our way, through?" Mathias asked.

"No," Aleksander shook his head. "The debris from shooting any of those could be more dangerous than the asteroids themselves."

Which left only one option: try to fly through.

"How close together are they?" Mathias asked, trying to assess how difficult it would be just to fly through.

"A couple hundred meters," Eiríkur informed him. The teen's eyes were fixed on a set of computer readouts; doubtlessly the scans which were being made of the field.

"Well that's not so bad," the captain mused thoughtfully. "Hofvar's less than a dozen meters wide."

"They're also moving," Aleksander pointed out. "It won't be easy."

"Is there anywhere there are less of them?" Tino piped up. "Where it's thinner, I mean."

Aleksander shrugged. "Probably somewhere," he assumed, "It might not be anywhere near us, though. Eiríkur, see if you can find anything," the pilot instructed his brother, who was still focused on the computer screen. The teen gave only a nod in reply.

"How long until we actually reach it?" Tino asked. Years of space travel and he was still terrible at judging distances from within a ship.

The pilot thought for a moment, staring out the window, before he answered. "An hour, I think, until we have to worry about it. No more than two before we're in the thick of it." Not a lot of time for them to try and find somewhere else in the belt to try and squeeze their way through.

\----------

Although Eiríkur ran scans for as long as he could there was no sign of any place in the asteroid field which was thinner or would provide them with an easier flight through. So they would just have to stick it out. "I know you can do it, Aleks," Mathias said confidently, patting the pilot on the shoulder. "You're the best pilot ever; you can get us through there."

Aleksander did not feel so confident himself, however. He gripped the controls with white knuckles as the asteroids drew ever closer to the ship. Huge chunks of space rock, each one larger than their entire ship. And not stationary. That would be too easy. Though held in place by the gravitational pull of something on the other side - possibly the star of Asgard's solar system - the asteroids were hardly locked in place, as with everything in space. They drifted slightly here and there, occasionally knocking against each other and sending themselves farther off course. This was what worried Aleksander the most. He knew better than the rest the maneuvering capabilities of this vessel, how fast he could pull out of the way of a drifting asteroid. But should one of them change course all of a sudden he might not be able to change their course fast enough.

They moved at a snail's pace past the first of the asteroids. Every single crew member was present on the bridge, which did nothing to ease Aleksander's fears, but rather made him even more paranoid about making a mistake. He was not the sort of person who liked to be seen making mistakes.

As they crept forward Mathias moved over to one window and peered out at the objects that passed them by. This change of position quickly proved to be a bad decision on his part. "Mathias get out of the way, I can't see if your stupid hair is blocking the window," Aleksander snapped without taking his eyes off the path in front of them. It was clear right now, but he knew it might not be for long.

Immediately Mathias hopped back like a scolded child. But as soon as the scolding wore off he rose a hand up to his head. "My hair's not stupid..." he whined softly, running a hand through the out of control spikes.

"Yes it is," Aleksander argued. "Now shut up and let me fly this thing." And for once Mathias did as he was told without argument.

Beside Aleksander, Eiríkur had his eyes fixed on the computer screen, reading out the constant scans he was running as the objects around them constantly changed position. With no visual beyond the one window, the only way to avoid asteroids on all sides of the ship was to track them through the ship's sensors. While the pilot watched their path forward with eagle eyes, Eirikur made sure they remained safe from the asteroids at their sides and back. Occasionally he would read out a warning that one of the rocks was coming too close and Aleksander would pull them out of the way ever so slightly, still moving forward at as deliberate a pace as possible. It was slow going, and the crew waited with bated breath as they crept through the field.

"There's something weird about these asteroids," Tino said after a while.

No one else had been paying much attention to the asteroids, except to make sure none of them hit the ship, but Tino's comment changed that. Though Aleksander and Eiríkur continued to concentrate on flying them safely through the belt, the others turned their attention to the objects in question.

There was, in fact, something strange about them. It was not obvious at first. Like any space debris the asteroids were chipped, cracked and dented from knocking into each other and anything else that might get in their way. But looking past those damages revealed something much more interesting. "They're all the same size," Peter pointed out first.

"They're perf'ctly round," Berwald discovered next.

That drew even Aleksander and Eiríkur's attention. "You're right," the pilot breathed, staring intently at the asteroid closest to them.

"But that's impossible," Mathias argued, although he had also noticed this by now, and it was impossible to deny. "Asteroids are just space debris, they can't all be the same unless…" And he trailed off, a look of confusion and amazement on his face as he figured it out.

"Unless they're man made," Tino finished for him.

"You can't possibly think that's true," Mathias argued. "You can't just make an asteroid belt."

"We can't," Tino agreed. "But look at that," he gestured out the main window toward the debris. Floating aimlessly around them was all the necessary proof. Perfect cookie cutter stones meticulously carved and set in place. "That's impossible. There couldn't possibly be this many asteroids all the same naturally. Someone had to make them that way, it's the only explanation."

"But who could have done something like this?" Mathias asked. And that was the real question. How was it possible, and who would have the technology to perform such a feat of galactic engineering? This was not an asteroid belt. This was a wall.

"Asgard?" Berwald suggested. That was the only logical explanation. This belt had been here for as long as Humans had been traversing the stars. If it had been built it had to have been before. Thousands of years ago. The only other civilization in the galaxy that came even close to having the technology and skills necessary for such a feat was Asgard. Furthering this theory was the fact the asteroid belt effectively blocked the Asgard solar system off from the rest of the galaxy. But then that begged the question of why the Aesir thought it necessary to wall off their entire solar system.

As far as anyone knew they were the most technologically advanced race that had ever lived. And if the Hrimthurs belt was of their making it only proved that fact. What could they have wanted so badly to keep out? Or to keep in, for that matter?

The implications were both amazing and terrifying, and the revelation thrust the crew into an uneasy silence. Distracted by thoughts of what sort of civilization would build, and feel the need to build, something like this, Aleksander did not notice one of the stones was heading straight for them. Tino spotted it first, looming toward them at a steady speed, and when he realized that Aleksander was not pulling out of the way panic shot through him, "Look out!" he shouted, pointing toward the asteroid.

Aleksander's eyes shot toward it and then widened in shock. "Shit," he muttered through gritted teeth and wrenched the controls to the side. It sent the ship lurching aside with enough force to knock Mathias off his feet. As the captain scrambled back to his feet Peter grabbed onto Berwald's shirt, eyes wide with fear as the ship became still again.

"Careful!" Eiríkur scolded, "We almost hit on the port side."

"I know!" Aleksander snapped, on edge from their near hit, and pushed the ship forward again. "Shut up and let me do my job."

"You're doing great, Aleks," Mathias said, trying to lighten the mood and sooth frayed nerves. He patted the pilot's shoulders supportively and stared out the window over his head. "Just keep going."

\----------

It took the better part of the day to get through the asteroid belt at the deliberately slow pace at which they moved forward. Thanks to Aleksander's expert piloting they had emerged relatively unscathed. When finally the ship was free and far from the nearest asteroid the crew breathed a collective sigh or relief. There was momentary celebration, for navigating the belt had been no easy feat.

"I knew you could do it Aleks," Mathias grinned and clapped the pilot on the shoulder proudly. If Aleksander was similarly proud of his navigation it did not show on his face, though Eiríkur had cracked a small smile when Mathias turned to praise him as well.

But even though they were free from the immediate danger of the asteroid field Aleksander did not bring them up to speed again. They were now in uncharted territory. There were no maps of this system. Star charts showed nothing but blank space beyond the Hrimthurs belt.

Tino asked the obvious question on all of their minds. "So what do we do now?" One could not just wander through space hoping to stumble across a planet. He did not receive an immediate answer, though, because none of the others were quite certain either.

"We'll run some long-range scans," Aleksander eventually decided, "And see if they can pick up any stars." The Hofvar's sensors were weak compared to those of newer and larger ships. But with the asteroid field at their back their area of focus was narrowed significantly. "We should be able to pick up the solar radiation and at least get something to aim for." Then, once they were closer to a star system, the scanners would be able to pick up on the planets.

"Right," Mathias nodded and patted Aleksander's shoulders again. "Get on that, then." The pilot replied with only a nod and leaned forward to reach the main control panel, where he began pushing buttons and flipping switches to get the more powerful sensors up and running.

Now all of the excitement was over. It made the daunting breach of the asteroid belt rather anti-climatic. After breaking through they were faced with the same mind-numbingly monotonous expanse of empty space, stretching on for as far as the eye could see, and farther. Already bored again, Peter left the bridge and went off in search of something to entertain himself with.

"So, uh, how long do you suppose this will take?" Mathias asked. Patience had never been his strongest suit, to say the least, and sitting around with nothing to do was his least favorite part of space travel.

"I really could not say," Aleksander replied without taking his eyes off the control panel in front of him. "It will take as long as it takes."

"Great," the captain sighed in annoyance and then turned on his heel. "Well, you know where to find me if you need me," he said, and tossed a wave over his shoulder as he strode off the bridge and out of sight. Tino, Berwald and Eiríkur watched him go.

"You might as well go with him," Aleksander commented after a moment. "It's going to be boring up here for a while."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wall that surrounds Asgard was built by a Hrimthurs, one of the giants that inhabit Niflheim. Because the wall does not have a name I could easily steal, I used this to name the asteroid belt.


	14. Uncharted Territory

As predicted, travel though the uncharted star system was extremely boring. At first, Mathias asked every few hours whether the sensors had picked anything up; then only once or twice a day; then once every other day. And now it seemed he had given up entirely.

This was rather disheartening for the rest of the crew. Whatever the man lacked in leadership ability he made up for with sheer personality. Usually, he was able to keep crew moral up through even the hardest of trials by simply staying optimistic. But now it seemed his reserves had run dry, and when Mathias began feeling depressed the feeling was infectious.

When Mathias was not moping about the ship trying to annoy the others into entertaining him he took to sharpening his knife collection, which did not particularly need to be sharpened, and even attempted to read a book loaned to him by Aleksander, but gave up after only a few pages. Even he was not that bored.

Aleksander and Eiríkur spent most of their time in the bridge, as usual, poring over the data from the sensors, which did not reveal much. However, they usually had Peter at their sides, and could occupy themselves with showing the boy how the ship worked. Peter also spent a good amount of time down in the engine room with Berwald, and sometimes Tino, because that was the closest the ship had to familiar scenery. And though the others could keep him entertained the boy was undoubtedly most attached to the engineer.

And on the sixteenth day since passing through Hrimthurs it was Peter who brought the news. “Planet! We found a planet!” The boy bounded into the galley where Mathias and Eiríkur were doing what they could to pass the time, which for Mathias was mostly sighing melodramatically and occasionally whining about having nothing to do while Eiríkur was attempting to read a book whilst ignoring the captain. When Peter burst through the doorway they both stopped and looked up.

“A planet?” Mathias asked in disbelief.

The boy nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, a planet!” he exclaimed, so excited he could not stand still. “The sensors found it!”

Then suddenly Eiríkur and Mathias scrambled out of their seats, instantly forgetting about what they had been doing. Immediately Mathias was rushing past the boy on his way to the bridge, shouting orders with only half his attention. “Get Tino and the Swede,” he said over his shoulder.

Unsure who the order had been directed at Eiríkur and Peter stared at each other for a moment before Peter offered to go and ran toward the ladder leading down to the lower deck. The boy climbed down as quickly as his short legs would allow him and jumped the last few rungs, landing with a light clang on the metal floor. “Berwald! Tino!” he called as he spun around and headed toward the engine room. Bursting through the door a moment later Peter found the two men standing apart from each other and looking slightly rumpled. Tino’s hands were quickly smoothing down his mussed hair and attempting to look casual; he had a smudge of grease on his cheek. Berwald straightened his glasses, his shirt partially untucked.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked curiously, confused by their unusual appearance.

“Nothing,” Tino answered quickly.

“We found a planet,” the boy said, easily shrugging off the subject without further question, which was a relief for the two men.

“Really?” Tino’s lavender eyes went wide with surprise.

“Yeah! On the sensor! Come and see,” Peter enthused.

“We’ll be there ‘n a minute,” Berwald replied. “Gotta finish somethin’ first.”

“Okay,” The boy agreed easily enough, and turned around to head back to the upper deck. Obviously their activities were of no concern to him, which was a relief to the two men.

\----------

Tino and Berwald were only a minute behind Peter when they finally arrived on the bridge. Although their arrival was not without a moment of joking from Mathias, who could not resist the opportunity to tease Berwald, the captain was quickly silenced by swift smacks from both the engineer and Aleksander.

“If this idiot is done, I’ll show you what we found,” the pilot said, ignoring Mathias’ small whines as the captain rubbed the quickly forming bump on his head. With a quick motion over the controls Eiríkur brought their findings up onto the main screen. It displayed a very empty star chart, showing only what their scans had picked up of the system. “This planet we picked up a couple days ago,” Aleksander pointed to a dot on the screen, “but the scans show it’s a gas giant, so not the one we’re looking for. It did give us somewhere to focus, though, and today we picked up this one,” he moved his finger to another dot on the screen. “It’s orbiting the same star; solid surface and the right distance away to support life. If it’s not Asgard it still might be habited and we might be able to get some more information.”

“Might?” Berwald asked uncertainly.

At that Aleksander could only shrug. “We don’t know anything about this part of the galaxy. I don’t even know how many star systems are hidden in here. This is the best lead we’ve got at the moment. With luck it will provide us with some more clues. At the very least I expect it will have water and perhaps some food we can use to replenish our supplies.”

“I hope it has booze, we ran out a week ago,” Mathias added less than helpfully.

“That would be nice,” Tino agreed. “And fresh fruit.”

“Fresh anything,” Mathias corrected. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m actually getting tired of pickled herring.” This comment earned the captain a few strange looks from his crewmembers, but they all went largely unnoticed.

\----------

Aleksander charted a course toward the planet. The entire crew buzzed with excitement even though their destination was still at least a day away. Peter could barely sit still. “I’ve never been to another planet before!” he exclaimed enthusiastically, sharing this information with each of the men multiple times, and wondered aloud what the planet would look like. Was it like Svartálfaheim? Or was it completely different? As he imagined the possibilities the boy’s eyes lit up and on more than one occasion he had been caught staring at that old out-of-date calendar on the wall. Mathias had taken it down once to let him look through the pictures of mountains, lakes and forests.

The others were excited as well, but their excitement was tempered with nervousness. There was no way of knowing what they would find, and their last planetfall had not been terribly pleasant, to say the least.

A day and a half passed before they settled into orbit around the planet. Once more the crew crowded into the bridge to stare out the main window at the world below them. From above it seemed harmless, peaceful even; green and blue, with swaths of brown and white where mountains reached up toward the heavens. But they did not dare descend without knowing what they were getting into.

Aleksander and Eiríkur ran as many scans as they could, looking for signs of life, civilization, and anything that might cause them harm. Behind their seats Peter bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, unable to contain his excitement. “It’s beautiful!” the boy exclaimed. He had never seen a landscape of green and blue before, confined as he had been to the desolation of Svartálfaheim. “When can we go down? I wanna see it closer!”

“Calm down, little man,” Mathias said, placing his hands on the boy’s shoulders to calm his excited movements. “We’ll be down there soon enough. Aleks has to make sure it’s safe first. Don’t want to get shot out of the sky on accident.”

“Oh,” Peter murmured, and settled down slightly. The idea of getting attacked was not particularly appealing.

It did not take very long for Aleksander and Eiríkur to finish their scans of the planet. And surprisingly from above there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. “There’s one fairly large settlement,” Eiríkur explained as they went over the readings. “It doesn’t seem to be very advanced. I think it would be safe to land nearby.”

“If it’s not very advanced then this probably isn’t Asgard, huh?” Mathias asked, clearly disappointed.

Aleksander shook his head. “I don’t think so. There are no satellites and the buildings are small… I would say they’re less advanced than we are.”

“Let’s go, then,” Mathias decided. “Maybe we’ll get to make first contact!”

\----------

The ship set down in a field a few kilometers away from the settlement that their scans had picked up. So far there was still no sign of advanced technology. In fact, what little they could make out of the settlement appeared to be agrarian; a sprawling town where buildings are farmland wove together seamlessly. But there was little sign of the people so far, and that was slightly concerning. Tino supposed the people had seen them coming, but hoped they had not hidden or gone to prepare themselves for battle.

Because they were still uncertain of what they would find or the sort of welcome they would get, Aleksander did not shut the ship down fully and decided that he would stay back to watch over it while the others went out to explore. In case they needed to make a swift getaway, he explained.

This suited the others just fine, especially Mathias. As his crew got ready to go explore he cornered Aleksander in the galley. “It’s good you’re staying,” he said. “It’s much safer here, I’m sure.”

Aleksander only scoffed. “I can take care of myself just fine, you know,” he muttered.

“But it’s still better for you to stay here,” Mathias argued, “You don’t have any fighting experience.”

“But it’s alright for Eiríkur to go?” Aleksander asked, turning cold eyes up at the captain.

Mathias realized his mistake in an instant, and quickly tried to make up for it. “That’s not what I meant. I mean –,” He did not get to finish before Aleksander’s fist connected with his jaw. It was not a hard punch, but enough to shut him up. Surprised by the blow, Mathias stepped back, and Aleksander used the opportunity to escape. The pilot did not move fast enough, though. A moment later he was stopped again by Mathias’ arms wrapping around his waist. “Aleks,” he whined, pulling the other man against his chest despite protest. “You know I just want you to stay safe.”

“You’re an idiot,” Aleksander muttered, but relaxed into the other man’s arms for a moment. “I’d be perfectly fine and you know that. They’re probably waiting for you outside.”

Mathias sighed and released his pilot, but not before placing a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you tonight, then,” he said, and ran off to meet the rest of his crew. They had opened the cargo bay door, because they did not anticipate a hasty retreat, and the rest of the crew was waiting on the grass just outside.

Tino was crouched down in front of Peter. The poor boy looked a lot better than he had when they had found him, cleaned up and well fed, but he still did not have any proper clothing. Now he was wearing one of Eiríkur’s shirts, the teen was closest to him in size but his clothes were still too large for the boy.

“Peter you should stay here with Aleks,” Tino was saying to the boy. “We don’t know what we’re going to find here. It might be dangerous.”

“But I’ve never been to another planet before,” Peter whined. “I want to see it! I want to meet aliens!”

The sniper sighed and raked a hand through his hair. They had obviously been doing this for a while and he was running out of things to say. He turned his gaze helplessly toward the others in search for any help. For some reason the boy had latched onto Tino as a sort of surrogate parent, which was a hard test on Tino’s non-existent child care skills, although he still followed around Berwald as though the engineer was his idol.

Taking pity on the gunman, Berwald stepped up and placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “If the aliens’re nice ya can come meet ‘em later,” he said. “Just don’ want ya to get hurt if they’re not.”

“Yeah?” Peter turned his gaze up toward Berwald, grinning from ear to ear. “I really want to meet them.”

“If they let us we’ll stay here a few days,” Mathias interjected. “Gotta replenish our supplies.”

“So I can see them then?” Peter asked hopefully.

“Yep,” Mathias confirmed. “If everything goes well.”

“But for now you should stay here and keep Aleks company,” Tino concluded, standing up again and dusting off his pants.

“Okay,” Peter said, and nodded. “You better make friends with them,” he added sternly before turning and running back to the ship where Aleksander was waiting for him. The others watched until he disappeared into the ship.

The clearing where they had landed was separated from the settlement by a section of the forest that covered a large portion of the planet and a small ridge. They would have to hike a ways before the reached that settlement, so the men quickly shouldered their things and started walking.

There was no path to speak of. The trees, not unlike those from planets in more familiar star systems, were not so close together that they made walking difficult, but the smaller plants that covered the ground pricked and tugged at the men’s clothing, frequently leaving behind uncomfortable thistles caught in the fabric that resisted all attempts at removal. Although they had appeared harmless at first glance, these plants quickly proved to be quite annoying.

“This planet sucks,” Mathias complained as he paused to pull a particularly nasty thorn out of his pants before it worked its way into his boot. They had been walking for barely twenty minutes up toward the crest of the ridge but had not made very good progress.

“We should look for a better path,” Eiríkur said. “There’s probably animal runs through here. I can’t imagine anything living here would willingly walk through this stuff.”

“Why didn’t you say that before we started?” Mathias said. He managed to pull the thorn free and threw it into the bushes.

“I didn’t think walking through this stuff would be such a pain. It barely goes up to our knees,” Eiríkur replied.

“Let’s just keep going,” Tino said. “It might take us longer if we try to find a path now. But we can look for one on the way back.”

With an annoyed sigh, Mathias agreed. “Okay, let’s keep going,” he said, and they were off again.

After an hour of trekking up the ever steepening rise of the ridge they finally reached the top. Here the men allowed themselves to stop and take a break, leaning back against the trunks of trees as they caught their breath. The thistle plants were slightly thinner here, but none of them trusted enough to sit down. A short break, and then they were off again. Moving downhill now, their progress was much quicker. Except when Mathias lost his footing and slid straight into one of the thorny plants before catching himself on a tree. They spent fifteen minutes just pulling all the thorns out of his clothing.

Eventually the trees began to thin, and through the gaps the men began to make out the shapes of buildings and walls. As they approached the edge of the forest the crew became even more cautious. Although their scans of the planet had not picked up any signs of advanced technology, this was the same system supposedly home to legendary civilizations. There was no telling what they might encounter here.

Hovering in the tree line the four men stared out toward the settlement, now quite obviously a well populated city, in an attempted to gauge the situation. The city did not appear very advanced. The buildings were low, none more than three stories high, and built of wood and stone. A low wall surrounded most of the city, although there were areas where expansion had caused buildings to be constructed beyond the protection of that wall. The people must not have had much fear of attack from others.

“Well, it doesn’t look dangerous,” Tino said optimistically.

The others agreed with him. The city was, in fact, rather quaint from their perspective. The question now on all of their minds was how to approach it. Everyone knew you could not just saunter into an alien settlement as though you owned the place, especially when making first contact.

“There’s people!” Eiríkur exclaimed suddenly, though his voice was hushed. He pointed down the slope toward the structures, where a small group of people had emerged.

“They look human,” Mathias observed curiously. And they did, at least from this distance. The group that had emerged appeared human, although their clothing was different from anything the four men had ever seen. Their garments were loose, flowing in an almost non-existent wind. As the crew stared down at them curiously one of the figures turned to face them.

“Shit,” Mathias said in a harsh whisper as he ducked behind a tree with the others, none of them considering how bad a hiding place it really was. “Maybe we should have left Berwald behind; he’ll scare them off for sure.”

“Don’t be rude!” Tino snapped, also in a whisper, and punched the captain in the shoulder.

Mathias yelped in pain when the punch came much stronger than expected and was immediately hushed by Eiríkur, “Be quiet, they’ll hear you.”

“What do we do?” Mathias asked, feeling a momentary panic that was uncharacteristic for him.

“We should go talk to them, that’s what we came here for isn’t it?” Tino replied.

“He’s right,” Berwald agreed.

But none of them really wanted to go. Of all the people to make first contact with a new civilization, these four men were probably not the best example of their kind and they knew it. There was a short moment where they all waited for someone else to leave their ineffective hiding place first, but none made a move.

Then, with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Eiríkur stepped forward. “This is stupid,” he grumbled in exasperation, and started walking down the hill.

As soon as Eiríkur’s intentions were clear, the others scrambled after him. Aleksander would kill them if they let his little brother go meet aliens by himself. The crew emerged from the tree line together, Mathias hurrying to take the lead again so no one would mistake Eiríkur for their leader.

As they drew closer to the small group of natives the crew could make them out more clearly. Four in total, matching the number of their own group, a woman and three men, although it was a bit difficult to tell them apart. All four had long hair that was such a light blond as to be nearly white and dressed in similarly light garments. In the bright sunlight they seemed almost to glow. And they were tall. Even the woman stood nearly the same height as Berwald.

“We have been expecting you,” The woman spoke, a smile on her face as she looked at the four men.

“You were?” Mathias asked.

“We saw your ship land just beyond the ridge, and knew it would only be a matter of time before you came to us. We did not expect you would be so shy, however,” She said, and there was amusement in her voice.

“We just wanted to make a good impression,” Mathias said.

Eiríkur scoffed quietly from behind him, “Too late for that.” And he ignored the glare that Mathias sent his way.

“It has been a long time since we have had visitors from another world. My name is Vala,” the woman continued as though Mathias and Eiríkur had never spoken. “Please come inside so we may talk comfortably,” she offered.

The crew shared a look amongst themselves, silently considering whether it was safe to do so. Eventually, though, Mathias decided that they had no choice. This was probably their only chance to get the information they needed about this portion of the galaxy. The captain nodded his consent, and the crew followed their hosts toward the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vala – Anglicanized version of Völva, an Old Norse term for a seeress or sorceress.


	15. The Truth Behind the Myth

**Chapter XV – The Truth Behind the Myth**

 Mathias, Eiríkur, Tino and Berwald were lead in through the gates of the city. Up close they could see that the construction was all very old, ancient even. The outer walls were stone, carefully shaped and constructed by what must have been master craftsmen. They passed through a pair of large wooden gates, carved with the designs of trees and plants. Inside the walls, the buildings were just as ancient, wooden walls and thatched roofs set atop stone foundations. It was like stepping back in time, to a time that the four men could barely imagine.

 As they passed through the streets there were very few people. Those they did see were dressed in the same fashion as the group that greeted them, and all were just as tall and elegant. The men could not help staring a little at the strange people and even stranger scenery. But for there part, most of the people they saw stared right back, just as curious about the otherworlders.

 The walk through town felt longer than it actually was. Eventually they were shown into a building. The main room comprised a meeting hall of sorts, an oval table surrounded by chairs. The wooden walls were decorated with fabric hangings and tapestries that depicted men and women amongst beautiful scenery from forest glades to striking cities. The weaving on these tapestries was so fine it was almost impossible to see and easy to mistake for a photograph. It was only when the men got closer they were able to see that it was actually fabric.

 Vala, their guide, directed them to sit down at the table and took a seat herself in one of the high-backed chairs. By now the other members of their greeting party had left them. Clearly they did not see the men as a threat. Mathias almost felt insulted.

 “I would like to welcome you to Alfheim,” Vala said as she took a seat at the head of the table. “My people have always been happy to help those who travel through the stars.”

 “Thank you,” Tino smiled and leaned forward in his seat. The little gunman greatly preferred how this meeting was going over how their last few landings had gone. “We are grateful for it, and we’re happy to have found you. I’m Tino, and this is Mathias, Eiríkur and Berwald,” he introduced them, pointing to each man respectively. “We’re very pleased to meet you.”

 Vala smiled back at him kindly. Suddenly Mathias was glad to have the cheerful Finn with them. Tino was much more personable than the others; much better in friendly situations like this. “I am pleased to meet you, as well; and pleasantly surprised, as well. Your kind has never traveled beyond the asteroid belt. What brings you to our part of the galaxy?” The woman asked.

 “We’re looking for Asgard,” Mathias said bluntly. “But we have no charts of this sector and no knowledge of its location.”

 “You are lucky that you found us, then,” Vala replied. “It is not advisable to wander the galaxy without direction.”

 “So you know where it is?” Tino asked, perhaps a little too eagerly. He sat himself up on his knees to better see over the table, which was designed for the high-statured people of this land and just a bit too high for Tino’s comfort.

 The woman nodded, “We know it well, although it has been many years since any of our people sought to go there.”

 “Can you tell us where it is?” Mathias asked, leaning forward impatiently.

 Vala turned her attention to the overeager captain and favored him with an annoyed stare. “That is within our power. But I must first ask what your business is. Asgard’s civilization has been dead for centuries, there is little there worth finding.”

 “We are looking for something,” Eiríkur said. “An item out of our old legends.  We only want to see if the stories are true.”

 “You are treasure hunters,” Vala concluded.

 “No,” Tino said quickly. “Well… I guess we are, in a way.” They were looking for legendary treasure. But if the woman thought they were only looking for personal gain then she would never give them the location of the planet. “But we just want to find out what parts of the legends are true.”

 However, Vala did not look as though she believed this story. If so, she believed quite rightly. “The artifacts of Asgard are extremely dangerous and should not be used without knowing the consequences. It would be easy for one of your kind to misuse their technology.”

 “If they didn’t want anyone else to get their technology, then why did they give some of it to us?” Mathias asked.

 The woman frowned as she looked at him. “Of what do you speak?” she asked.

 “Well we have-,” Mathias started, but was quickly cut off by Eiríkur.

 “He means there’re stories,” Eiríkur was quick to interrupt before their captain said something stupid and lost them this chance to get information. “About these keys that were given to all the races, and you need all of them to open some temple.”

 “I see,” Vala said thoughtfully. “I believe I know of what you speak. There are some things that the Aesir built that were so powerful they believed it dangerous for even their own people to use them. These they locked away in a vault, making them inaccessible to anyone without the proper keys.  It was designed to be impenetrable, and to ensure it remained so, the Aesir scattered the keys across the galaxy.  For safe keeping, each race was given one key. This way no one could access the vault without the cooperation of all three races in your sector, as well as the Aesir themselves.  It was meant to ensure that no one race gained control of the technology within, for if they did it would give them far too much power over the others. 

 “We have always feared that your people might follow the same path as the Aesir,” Vala added. “A path which lead them to ruin.”

 The four men looked at each other nervously.  This was sounding much more serious then they had imagined all those months ago on the space station. “What, exactly, lead the Aesir to ruin?” Tino asked nervously, uncertain he wanted to hear the answer. Anything that could decimate an entire civilization, especially one so advanced, must be terrible to imagine.

 Vala stared at the men thoughtfully for a long moment before she began to speak again.  “There were once three civilizations in this sector: the Aesir, the Vanir, and ourselves, the Alfar. Both the Aesir and the Vanir were highly technologically advanced; advancements beyond your comprehension. We had dealings with them, but their technology was never of any interest to us, and they had little else to offer for trade. However, relations between the Aesir and the Vanir were always strained. Their planets, Asgard and Vanaheim, shared the same parent star and they frequently quarreled over resources. The conflicts escalated until finally war broke out between them.

 “This war lasted for many decades. Our own people regularly found ourselves suffering the collateral damage or serving as intermediaries. But their two peoples were never able to find a common ground. Not until it was too late. The decades of war decimated the population on both sides until there were simply not enough citizens left to fight. Only with the threat of extinction were they able to find peace.

 “They hoped to save their race by merging their remaining peoples. But it did not work. The population was already too devastated. And so they died out. None have stepped foot upon either planet since then.[i]”

 When the woman finished speaking silence descended upon the room. It was a sobering tale. The reality lessened the glamour of the legendary Asgard. “Then that is why they broke off contact with our people,” Eirikur surmised after a long moment.

 “I expect as much,” Vala replied. “Though I do not pretend to know their minds, it was not long before the war began that the asteroid belt was constructed. It would not be foolish to guess that the Aesir knew what was coming.”

 “They knew the war would come,” Tino breathed. “And they did not want to get us involved.”

 Vala nodded sagely. “Yours are a primitive people,” she stated.

 “Primitive?” Mathias scoffed.

 The woman stared at him, once again frowning at his outburst. “The technology of the Aesir and Vanir is beyond your comprehension,” she said pointedly.

 That statement only irritated Mathias more. “Lady, you haven’t seen or heard from our people for hundreds of years. You don’t know what we’re capable of.”

 “And yet I see you now and you do not seem to have changed significantly,” the woman said.

 Mathias bristled angrily and seemed about to say something more before pointed, angry looks from his crew members silenced him. They would gain nothing by arguing with this woman. “Will you tell us the location of Asgard?” Eiríkur asked. “We understand what we are getting ourselves into, but we can only give you our word that we will do what’s best.”

 Vala turned her attention to the teen and a smile played on her lips. “I appreciate your honesty,” she spoke. “And I will consider your request. For now, I will invite you and your crew to take respite in our city and replenish your supplies. Rooms here can be prepared for you to stay if you desire.”

 “Oh, yes please,” Tino smiled. “We would really appreciate that.”

 “Very well; four rooms?” Vala asked.

 “There are two more of us back on the ship,” Mathias said.

 “But Berwald and I can share,” Tino added quickly.

 “In that case I’m sharing with Aleks,” Mathias decided.

 “Don’t make those sorts of decisions without him,” Eiríkur snapped.

 “Four rooms’ll be fine,” Berwald said, speaking up for the first time to put an end to his crewmates’ bickering.

 ----------

 The rooms they were given were a definite step up from anywhere the crew had stayed in the past. While Eiríkur ran back to the ship to fetch his brother and Peter, Mathias, Berwald and Tino were given a brief tour of the facility they would be calling home for the next few days. From Vala they learned that the building was a meeting hall, and the living quarters located at the back of the structure were designed to house visitors from other settlements on the planet during councils and negotiations.

 Vala showed them four rooms they could use for the duration of their stay on the planet, all lushly decorated in the same style as the meeting room where they had spoken.  Everything here was so much more lavish and beautiful than anything the men had seen before. It was breathtaking. Vala assigned them four rooms at the end of a corridor, and bowed as she left them to sort out the arrangements themselves.

 “This place is amazing,” Tino breathed when he thought she was out of earshot.

 Mathias nodded in agreement and poked his head into one of the rooms to take a look, whistling in admiration of what he found. “People actually live like this? I thought it was only in stories.”

 “It’s almost like a dream, isn’t it?” Tino mused, and pushed open the door to another room to look inside. “Are they all pretty much the same? I guess we’ll take this one then,” he decided after a quick look around.

 “Aleks and I’ll be next door then,” Mathias decided.

 “I told you not to make decisions like that on your own,” Eiríkur snapped in annoyance and swatted at the captain, but Mathias dodged out of the way.

 “There’s no need to be jealous, Eiríkur,” Mathias teased. “Just because your brother has me all to himself.”

 “Gross. I could never be jealous of you,” the teen grumbled. “I have no idea what Aleks sees in you. You must have brainwashed him somehow.”

 “I think you give him too much credit,” Tino laughed. “If you think he’s capable of brainwashing anyone.”

 Mathias pouted; he never liked it when the others ganged up on him like this. “Sure I could, if I wanted to. But I didn’t need to. I got Aleks with nothing but my charm and good looks,” he bragged.

 “Since when’ve you had either of those?” Berwald asked flatly.

 “Since always,” Mathais retaliated easily. “But I wouldn’t expect you to be able to recognize it.”

 Berwald rolled his eyes, but let the subject drop. He wasn’t in the mood to get in another petty fight with the captain. Although arguments with Mathias provided good entertainment on long and boring space flights, there were many things he would rather do when they were planetside. Namely, spend time away from Mathias.

 “Well,” Eiríkur interrupted the silence, “I’m going to get Aleks and Peter, then. And when they get here you can discuss where my brother will be sleeping tonight,” he said, looking pointedly at Mathias, who did not even have the decency to look ashamed of himself.

 “Tell Aleks I’ll be waiting for him,” Mathias said with that same stupid grin on his face. Eiríkur flashed him a rude gesture before leaving, but the captain just laughed it off.

 With a sigh and a roll of his eyes Tino watched the pair. “You really shouldn’t tease him like that, you know,” he said.

 “He likes it,” The captain insisted. “Don’t worry. He only disapproves because he can. You know how kids his age are.” Tino was not certain that was entirely the case, but it was unlikely Mathias saw any deeper into the situation. And arguing with him was pointless. “I’m going to have a look around,” Mathias announced, bringing the conversation to a close. “You two have fun,” he added with a suggestive wink before turning on his heel and heading off to explore.

 As soon as they were left alone to settle into their room Tino trotted over to the bed and flopped down onto the mattress, immediately sinking into the soft cushions and blankets. He sighed happily, “I love beds.”

 Berwald chuckled a little as he watched this display and followed Tino to the bed at a more sedate pace, although he was just as happy about their accommodations for the night. It had been a long time since they had slept in a proper bed. And as much as he loved Tino, spending every night crammed into their small bunk on the Hofvar was not the most comfortable. Tino watched as the tall man crossed the room and seated himself on the edge of the bed. Berwald let out an almost imperceptible sigh as he lay back and let himself relax onto the mattress beside Tino.

 “I miss beds,” Tino said after they had lain there for a while. “Being this comfortable every night would be amazing.” Berwald grunted in agreement. After another moment Tino rolled over onto his side to look at his companion. “How’s your back?” he asked.

 “S’fine,” Berwald replied.

 “Let me see,” Tino said, sitting up quickly and looking down at the other man.

 Berwald frowned. “Y’ saw it this morning,” he said. “It hasn’t changed.”

 Tino sent him a pleading look and leaned down over Berwald. “I just want to be sure you’re alright,” he murmured.

 “M’fine,” Berwald assured him. “S’all healed now. Nothin’ t’ worry about.” This was not the complete truth. There were still patches of freshly healed pink skin around the toughening scars and Berwald was constantly stretching to be sure those scars did not tighten up as they were healing. But there was nothing more that Tino could do to help.

 With a heavy sigh Tino lay down again. “Alright, if you say so,” he murmured.

 But as Tino lay back down, Berwald sat up. “Let’s just go t’sleep,” he said.

 “Sleep?” Tino raised his head to watch the man, a frown on his face. “You want to go to sleep?” He sat up again and crawled over to Berwald. “We might only get to spend one night here. I hardly think we should let this opportunity go to waste.”

 “Opportunity?” Berwald looked over at Tino curiously.

 The gunman nodded. “This bed,” he murmured, and looped his arms around Berwald’s shoulders. “It’s so comfortable. And it has plenty of room for two people.” Tino watched with amusement as his lover’s cheeks turned pink behind the rims of his glasses. “Let’s make the most of it while we have the chance.”

 ----------

With help from one of the Alfar who had greeted them, Eiríkur found an easier way through the forest between the settlement and their ship and was back to retrieve Aleksander and Peter. He trotted in through the cargo bay door and headed up to the main deck in search of his brother. The clanging of his footsteps on the metal flooring was more than enough to announce his presence, almost better than any vocal warning he could have given.

 He found the two on the bridge. Peter was practically sitting on the controls while he looked out the windows, trying to see everything he could of the planet while he was stuck on the ship. Aleksander sat in his usual seat, keeping an eye on the boy just in case. They both turned when Eiríkur arrived.

 “I assume since you’re not running in here screaming that everything went well?” Aleksander asked.

 “Yes,” Eiríkur replied. “We met the natives. They’re nice, and they’re letting us stay in town for a while.”

 Peter hopped off of the control panel and ran over to Eiríkur, grinning excitedly. “Do we get to meet them now? I want to meet the aliens! What are they like?”

 “Yeah, you can meet them,” Eiríkur assured. “They… I guess they’re not that much different from us. But they’re all as tall as Berwald and they wear kind of funny clothes. But you shouldn’t tell them that. And you shouldn’t call them aliens, either, they won’t like that. They call themselves the Alfar.”

 Peter repeated the name in wonder, still grinning. “Can we go now? Let’s go!” he cheered.

 “In a minute. I need to get some things from here,” Eiríkur said. He looked over at his brother, “You should probably get Mathias’ things,” he advised. “Berwald and Tino are going to come back later.”

 Aleksander nodded and stood up after shutting down the ship’s engines fully. “Should only take a minute, then we can go,” he said, and ruffled Peter’s hair as he passed the boy, heading back toward their quarters.

 “You should probably grab anything you need, too,” Eiríkur added.

 Peter looked up at him with wide, curious eyes. “Like what?” he asked.

 “Clothes,” Eiríkur said before he could think better. Peter had no other clothes. “Um… Or, you know, anything to keep yourself occupied. You can bring my scanner if you want,” he said quickly, attempting to recover.

 The boy did not seem to mind or even notice his slip up, though, or did not show it if he did. “Okay,” He nodded, and smiled. “I want to take pictures of the aliens! And all their stuff!” he enthused.

 Eiríkur nodded. “That sounds like a good idea,” he replied. “I’m going to help Aleks; you can wait for us by the door when you’re ready.”

 Half and hour later Peter had practically paced a rut outside the cargo bay door while he waited for Aleksander and Eiríkur to come back out. While they gathered fresh clothes and other necessities for staying away from the ship for a few days the boy had nothing to do except wait in anticipation. This was the first planet he had ever been on other than Svartálfaheim and it was different in almost every way. He had already spent a good amount of time playing in the grass and examining the trees, things which did not exist on the only planet he had ever known. In fact, most of his time had been spent running around the clearing where their ship was landed while his mind attempted to process everything that he was seeing. It was all so new and amazing; and so much better than he could have ever dreamed. The grass was soft, the trees tall and their bark rough, the air smelled fresh and green, and the sky was blue without a single cloud. But this clearing was only a tiny part of the planet, a pin prick on a map. He wanted to see the rest of it, to see if it was just as amazing, or perhaps more so. And he wanted to meet the people who lived in such an amazing place. Even though Eiríkur had described them briefly he still wondered what they were like. And what their city was like. He had never seen anything other than Svartálfaheim and the few pictures that the men of the Hofvar were able to show him. The pictures barely did nature justice, in his opinion.

 When Aleksander and Eiríkur finally emerged from the ship, each with a small satchel of their things, Peter felt like he was about to explode from excitement. Aleksander closed up the cargo hatch, securing the ship to anyone or anything that might come by, and the three set off back through the trees toward the settlement.

 Following Eiríkur’s lead they made quick time over the ridge and through the trees, even if, in his curiosity about everything new, Peter had a small mishap with the same thistle bushes that had given the men so much trouble on their first trek. When they finally broke the tree line Aleksander stopped and stared out at the settlement that lay before them. “Amazing,” he breathed. “It truly is like stepping back in time.”

 “They live here?” Peter exclaimed in awe. “It’s so pretty!”

 “Wait ‘til you see where we’ll be sleeping,” Eiríkur told the boy, and started making his way down the hill. Peter immediately trotted after him, practically vibrating with excitement.

 However, Peter’s excitement faded when they passed through the city gates. Approaching the town he had alternately run ahead then waited for the other two to catch up with him. But as soon as they walked into the town the boy became shy. For all his eagerness, Peter was not good at meeting strangers. In fact, he was terrified. As they walked down the street he stuck close to Eiríkur and Aleksander. With wide eyes, Peter stared at everything that they passed, the buildings and the people, holding on to Aleksander’s sleeve so he would not be left behind.

 The sun was dipping below the horizon when Aleksander, Eiríkur, and Peter arrived at the rooms they had been loaned. Mathias appeared shortly after their arrival, back from his brief exploration of the town. Immediately the captain ran over to Aleksander and smothered the pilot in a hug. “Aleks, I missed you,” he gushed.

 In annoyance Aleksander wriggled out of the other man’s arms. “I was only gone for four hours,” he pointed out.

 “I know. But I had to explore this place all by myself,” Mathias complained, and attempted to hug the pilot again, but Aleksander just shoved him away and rolled his eyes.

 “What about Berwald and Tino?” Eiríkur asked.

 “They’re probably…” Mathias stopped himself and glanced down at Peter, who was still nervously hiding behind Aleksander. “Just having some alone time. ‘Cause, you know, they don’t get much of that on the ship.”

 Aleksander raised an eyebrow curiously. “Well, they’re probably done by now,” he reasoned. “And I don’t know about you lot, but Peter and I haven’t eaten all day. We’d like to have some dinner.”

 “Oh! Good idea. We haven’t either,” Mathias replied. “Eiríkur, go get them.”

 “No,” Eiríkur refused flatly.

 “What? Why not?” Mathias looked taken aback by so blatant a rejection of his orders.

 “I don’t want to walk in on them. You do it,” Eiríkur said.

 Mathias sighed. “Fine. I’ll get the honeymooners. Then we’ll eat.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Aesir-Vanir War – In mythology, this war ended with the merging of the Aesir and Vanir into a single pantheon of gods.


	16. Leaving Paradise

**Chapter XVI – Leaving Paradise**

 Three days were spent on Alfheim. For the crew of the Hofvar it felt like a vacation; and more of one than they ever had on The Chariot or any other planet. On this paradise of a world the crew was housed in luxurious quarters, fed fresh meals, and given free reign of the town and surrounding countryside. It was the sort of place people dreamed of living. The Alfar themselves were friendly, if a bit wary of their Human visitors. The men were fully provided for as they awaited a decision from Vala and whatever council the woman reported to. They even provided Peter with a new wardrobe. After one of the townsfolk has noticed the boy’s dirty and ill-fitting attire they had taken it upon themselves to see that the child was properly dressed. Peter, of course, was ecstatic.

 After overcoming his initial shyness, Peter had been eager to explore and meet as many of the people as possible. He was fitted with a new pair of shoes made of soft leather, with a thick, hard sole that the cobbler promised would not wear out until the boy could not fit the shoes on his feet anymore. As for clothing, Peter had begged and pleaded to be made an outfit similar to what their hosts wore. He found their flowing garments fascinating, exciting, and beautiful. But they were terribly impractical for space travel. So he was forced to settle with smaller replicas of some of Aleksander and Eiríkur’s clothing. The boy’s disappointment lasted only a short while. Soon the new outfits were completed and he gleefully threw away his old garments in favor of the new. Cleaned and properly dressed and grinning from ear to ear, it was difficult to believe this was the same ragged, miserable boy they had first met.

 The others also found their own ways to occupy themselves.  Berwald spent two whole days back on the Hofvar, shutting down the engines entirely for the first time since their respite on Niflheim to run a full check of everything mechanical. Tino, perhaps surprisingly, left him to it and spent most of his time exploring the city, often in the company of one of his crewmates. And the entire time he did not touch his guns, save for one small sidearm that stayed with him at all times. Mathias was quickly making friends with as many people as possible, although most likely not raising the Alfar’s opinion of Humans any. Aleksander and Eiríkur, as usual attached at the hip, also made friends, though of a different sort. Aleksander wanted to glean everything he could about these people; everything they knew about this part of the galaxy and about their history. But the Alfar were not particularly open in these matters. They were very secretive, and cautious of giving away any secrets to their Human guests.

 But all good things must come to an end. They could not stay on Alfheim forever, as pleasant as the prospect might be. On the fifth day of their layover on this planet the crew of Hófvarpnir was called into the council chambers where they had first negotiated with the planet’s representative. It was with a combination of apprehension, excitement and fear that the crew gathered to hear the decision that would, in effect, seal their fate. Would they, or would they not, be given the coordinates of Asgard? And, they all wondered, what would they do if the answer was no?

 They gathered in the council room, but expecting this meeting to be much shorter than the last, none took a seat save Peter who was too fascinated by the high-backed chairs to bother paying attention to the grown ups. Waiting for them were Vala and the other Alfar who had welcomed them to this planet. Each of them wore a solemn, but unreadable expression as they greeted the crew this time.

 Vala surveyed the five men – and one boy – standing before her with a critical eye.  It was impossible to tell what she was thinking. After a long moment she finally spoke. “We have decided to tell you the location of Asgard,” she informed the crew. “But only because we believe it unlikely that you will discover anything which may prove dangerous in your hands. We will also give you enough supplies to last until you return to your own part of the galaxy.”

 They had gotten what they came for, but the veiled insults did not go unnoticed. “Thank you,” Aleksander spoke up first, before Mathias could have a chance to ruin the moment with an ill thought out comment. “We value your generosity, and we know that you would rather send us back to our side of the galaxy. It may have been wiser for you to do so. And so we appreciate that you are willing to support our mission, foolish though it may be.”

 An almost imperceptible smile graced Vala’s lips, the barest quirk of the corner of her mouth. “You speak much more eloquently than your compatriots,” she replied, clearly pleased by Aleksander’s elaborate speech. “Perhaps you are not all as foolish as we have believed. Should you, by some twist of fate, succeed in your efforts we would welcome you back here. I, and the rest of my people, would welcome the chance to be proved wrong in our opinions of your species.”

 “Then we will surely do so,” Aleksander assured her, nodding his head curtly.

 Vala nodded in return, acknowledging the promise with newfound respect for the straight-faced pilot. Then, from within her robes she withdrew a small book, no larger than the palm of her hand and equally thin. It was bound in leather and tied in string, and this she handed to Aleksander, who took it willingly. “This contains the coordinates for Asgard based upon our current position,” she informed the pilot. Immediately Aleksander’s grip on the little book became tighter, protective. “My fellows will assist you in gathering the necessary supplies for your journey and taking them to your ship. I wish you well, though I cannot say I hope for your success. Your mission is foolhardy and dangerous. I only pray that no harm befall you ere our paths meet again.”

 With that, the woman bid them farewell and sent them on their way. As they left the room Mathias nudged his pilot – turned diplomat – gently with his elbow. “Nice job, Aleks,” he said with a grin, “I had no idea you could talk so fancy.”

 “My speaking skills are not generally appreciated by the likes of you,” Aleksander replied blandly. “You’re lucky one of us has a proper education or that wouldn’t have gone nearly as well.”

 “Remind me to give you a proper thank you, later,” Mathias grinned, and Aleksander punched him in the arm.

 “I’d rather you do something useful,” the pilot replied. “Are you a captain or aren’t you?”

 Challenging the Dane’s rank was always sure to get him riled up; Aleksander knew this well and used it to his advantage. It was one certain way to keep the absentminded man reminded of his responsibility to the others. “I am!” Mathias insisted defensively. “I’m… going to supervise the supplies. You go do whatever you do with those coordinates.” With that he turned on his heel to face the others, beginning to snap orders to anyone who would listen.

 Aleksander ignored him in favor of getting back to the ship as quickly as possible. He was excited to plot their next course into uncharted territory, though he would never let that excitement show. But as he was leaving the building Tino caught up with him and grabbed his arm, effectively stopping him in his tracks. Confused, and a bit annoyed, Aleksander turned to face him.

 “Aleks, do you have a moment?” the gunman asked, his brow lined with concern.

 The pilot was tempted to say no, but it was difficult to say no to Tino when he wore an expression like that. “What is it?”

 “I just wanted to get your opinion on this before I talked to the others,” Tino began, fidgeting slightly. He paused, as though waiting for a reply from the other man, but Aleksander merely stared back at him. When it was clear the pilot would not say more, Tino took up his chatter again. “Berwald and I were thinking… Well, we thought it might be best if we left Peter here. I mean we don’t know what we’ll find or if it’ll be dangerous. And he likes it here. And I just think it would be much better for him.”

 “I agree,” Aleksander answered, interrupting before Tino could continue his nervous rambling.

 Tino stopped talking immediately and blinked in surprise. “You do?”

 Aleksander nodded. “You’re right, we don’t know if it will be dangerous where we are going. It would be much better if we didn’t have to worry about him getting hurt.”

 “Right,” Tino confirmed. “I’m glad you understand. I also thought, maybe, you could talk to Vala about letting Peter stay. I know they’re not too fond of us, but he’s just a kid, and if you explained it she might be willing.”

 The pilot thought about it. There were things he would rather be doing, but he supposed he had the best chance at convincing the Alfar to take the boy, even temporarily. “I’ll talk to her,” he assured. “I can’t promise anything, though.”

 “That’s fine,” Tino assured. “It’s worth asking, at least. Thank you.”

 Aleksander nodded curtly and watched as Tino, smiling as always, turned around and trotted away, no doubt back to Berwald’s side, the two were practically attached at the hip; and perhaps literally as well. With a sigh the pilot turned back around and headed back into the council chamber in search of Vala once more. He found the woman still there, thankfully, conversing privately with another of the Alfar. So as not to interrupt or eavesdrop on their conversation Aleksander waited by the doorway for them to conclude their business before he approached the woman again.

 “Is there something more than I can do for you,” Vala asked curiously, staring down her nose at the pilot.

 “There is one small matter I would discuss with you,” Aleksander replied carefully. He knew that, after all the people of this world had already granted them, asking even more was quite daring. “I am sure it has not escaped your notice that one of our company is a child,” he began.

 “Yes,” the woman replied. “I had wondered why you brought a child with you on such a potentially dangerous venture.”

 “We did not set off with him, I assure you,” Aleksander insisted quickly. “Rather we found him living with the Dwarves on Svartálfaheim; in rather deplorable conditions I might add. It was never our intention to bring him with us, but very little of our time on Svartálfaheim went according to plan.”

 “I see,” Vala nodded as she listened to his tale. “But why tell me this?”

 Aleksander paused, knowing that there was every possibility his request would ruin the rocky relationship they had with these people. “My companions and I thought… That is, we hoped we might be able to leave the boy in your care for a time. Temporarily, I assure you. We would come to pick him up upon our return from Asgard.”

 “If you return from Asgard,” Vala said pointedly.

 “Yes,” Aleksander was forced to agree. “If we should return. That is, in part, our concern. The boy has no part in this quest, and I would hate for it to cause him harm or misfortune.”

 “So you ask that we ensure his safety until your return?” Vala asked.

 “Yes,” Aleksander confirmed. “We only wish for him to remain safe. When we complete our quest we would return him to our home, to his own people.”

 For a long moment Vala was silent in thought, still staring down at Aleksander, who nervously awaited her verdict. He hoped he had not been too forward, to assuming. He hoped he had not offended her. Finally the woman gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head and a tiny quirk of her lips that could be a smile. “Very well. I can see that your intentions are only to keep the child from harm, and that we shall do, for it is also our wish.”

 Aleksander was surprised, but pleasantly so. He honestly had not expected the woman to agree to their request. But on second thought, taking care of one human child was probably not very taxing on their resources. Although their patience with the boy would be a different matter. “Thank you,” Aleksander said earnestly. Now all that remained was to convince Peter – and probably Mathias as well – that it was a good idea. “We truly appreciate your generosity.”

 In reply, the woman merely nodded and then turned away, signaling the obvious end of their conversation. And, all things considered, Aleksander was glad to be done. If the crew had any further requests they would have to take it up themselves. It was clear to the pilot that he was quickly wearing through his favor with the woman and he would truly hate to be on her bad side. So Aleksander beat a hasty retreat, hurrying back to the ship where, no doubt, the others were already hard at work. What he found instead was what he probably should have expected.

 Crates of food had been delivered to the clearing where the Hofvar sat by their generous hosts, and Mathias was supervising their loading onto the ship. But not without inspecting the contents of each crate personally. Aleksander gave an aggravated sigh when he saw this and immediately headed straight toward their meddling captain. This is not what he had had in mind when he told Mathias to take responsibility. “Don’t you think this is a little overkill,” he asked as he approached.

 Mathias had his nose buried in one of the crates, sorting through its contents, but immediately popped up when he heard Aleksander’s voice. “Just wanna make sure everything’s here,” he replied with his trademark grin.

 Aleksander rolled his eyes. Sometimes he really wondered about Mathias. “You could at least let them get it on the ship before you go nosing about. You’re slowing up the whole process.”

 Mathias frowned a little, almost pouting. “And where have you been this whole time while I’ve been hard at work?” he asked in retaliation.

 “Getting permission to leave Peter behind,” Aleksander replied without missing a beat.

 “What?” Mathias stood up straighter and stared down at him in surprise. “Leave him behind? Why would you even think of doing that?”

 “Not forever,” Aleksander said quickly, and a little exasperated. “Just while we’re on Asgard. We can pick him up again on the way home.”

 Mathias was still frowning; he did not seem sold on the idea yet. “Why shouldn’t he just come with us? We’ve taken good care of him so far.”

 “Because it could be dangerous,” Aleksander replied. “If we have to worry about him all the time we can’t watch out for ourselves. He’ll just get in the way. Besides, it was Tino’s idea.”

 Mathias’ frown deepened, but this time to a look of concentration. “I never thought of it like that,” he murmured. “Did they agree to take him?”

 “Yes,” Aleksander confirmed. “Vala agreed to take care of him until we return.” If they return; he was suddenly reminded of the woman’s words. Her pessimistic, dire warnings were beginning to worry him. He wondered how much was a scare tactic and how much was true.

 Mathias’ face screwed into an expression of deep concentration, brow furrowed, fingers absently fixing his hair as he shifted from foot to foot and stared up at the sky. It was what he did when he was thinking hard about something but trying not to look like it; a behavior that Aleksander knew well. “Okay,” he replied with a shrug after a long moment. “Better not to have him in the way, right?”

 Aleksander rolled his eyes. He did not believe for one moment that Mathias was actually as flippant about the whole matter as he pretended to be. “Good. I’ll make Tino tell him, then, since this was all his idea.”

 ----------

 It would truly be a shame to leave this planet. For their time here the men had been able to forget about the worries of their normal life and live one much simpler. It had been pleasant, while it lasted, and all save Mathias – who had ever dreamt of fortune and glory – were given a glimpse of what might have been, had fate given dealt different cards.

 Peter whined and complained and pouted and did everything he could think of to show his displeasure at being left behind. Although he liked this planet, and its people, he did not want to be left behind by the first of his own race he had ever met, and the first people to ever care about him.

 “We’re not abandoning you, Peter,” Tino explained to him, crouching to be at the boy’s level as Peter sniffled pitifully like a child on his first day of school. “It’s just that where we’re going it’s going to be very dangerous and we don’t want you to get hurt.”

 “And what if you get hurt?” Peter hiccupped, wiping his running nose on his sleeve. “What if you never come back?”

 “Of course we’ll come back,” Tino said with a smile. “Have a little faith in us, Peter. This is what we do, and we’re the best in the galaxy. We will come back for you.”

 “Promise?” the boy asked softly.

 “I promise,” Tino replied. “But you have to promise something, too.”

 “What?” Peter said curiously, his tears slowly drying up.

 “You have to promise that you’ll be good,” Tino told him. “Do what they tell you to and don’t cause them any trouble.”

 Peter nodded and wiped his face. “I promise,” he said quietly.

 “Good,” Tino smiled and stood back up, ruffling the boy’s hair affectionately. “I’m sure we’ll be back before you know it.” He glanced back at the ship and saw that everything seemed to be prepared for their departure. “I guess we have to leave now. Go say goodbye to everyone and you can watch us lift off.”

 And the boy did just that, giving each of the men a hug and sternly warning that they come back for him or he would hate them all for as long as he lived. Mathias just laughed and assured him that they would before sending the boy off to wait with the few Alfar who had come to see them off.

 ----------

 Mathias leaned against the back of Aleksander’s seat and looked over the pilot’s shoulders as they lifted slowly off the ground. Several times Aleksander tried to wave him away, but Mathias would not be deterred. “How long until we get there?” the captain asked impatiently.

 “We’ve only just left,” Eiríkur said, shooting the captain an annoyed look.

 “I know,” Mathias huffed, “I just want to know how long it’s going to take. What’s wrong with that?”

 “It’s going to be a few days,” Aleksander informed him, “So there’s no need to hang all over my chair breathing down the back of my neck.”

 “Fine, fine, fine,” Mathias stood up, raising his hands in defeat. “I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll be in the galley for anyone who actually appreciates my presence,” he announced, turning on his heel.

 The captain’s departure left Aleksander and Eiríkur alone on the bridge. The pilot shared a look with his brother as the vessel raised above the trees. The final goal of this whole ridiculous journey was finally within their sight; just beyond their grasp, but not for much longer. No doubt the next few days would pass in the blink of an eye, and soon they would be standing where no Human had stood for generations. 


	17. City of Legend

True to Aleksander's predictions it was three days before the planet of Asgard came within sight; first on their sensors, then a small point in the distance before them, slightly larger than the stars around it, and growing larger as they approached. Eventually the planet loomed recognizable before them and Aleksander put them in orbit above in order to run scans of the surface. The others crowded into the bridge to get their first look at the alien world. But from above it did not look very different from any of the others they had visited. There was land and sea, a canvas covered in blue and brown and green, with dots of white marking the highest mountains, visible even from so far, and wisps of clouds. From above it was nothing spectacular, rather anticlimactic really.

"Where do we go from here?" Tino asked curiously as he peered through the large window.

"We're looking for their capitol city, I would suppose," Aleksander replied. "Unfortunately no stories, nor the Alfar, were specific on the location."

"How do we know what's the capitol?" Tino frowned, beginning to see a flaw in their plan.

"I would assume it is the largest city," Aleksander said, but it was little more than a guess. "The myths say the treasures of Asgard are hidden in Valhalla. But we've no way of knowing if that is a city, a country, or just a building."

"Well, I suppose the largest city is as good a place as any to start," Mathias said, trying to be optimistic when there was little else they could do. "At any rate it should have more information about where we are."

"If we're lucky," Aleksander added. "Eiríkur, have you found anything?"

The younger of the brothers was pouring over various readouts displayed on a screen before him; the results of automated scans being run over the surface of the planet. "Nothing yet," he replied. "Found a few cities, but it's not done yet. It looks like all the settlement was in the northern hemisphere. The southern is almost completely barren." Aleksander nodded, at least that narrowed down their search location.

An hour later the surface scans were completed and Eiríkur had located the largest settlement, situated on the largest continent not far from the coast. The time waiting had been spent imagining what it would be like on the surface, at least by Mathias and Tino; Berwald was silent as usual and Aleksander only shot down their more fantastic ideas. When they finally had a location for the next stage of their quest Aleksander was relieved, it stopped all the wild speculation that he so disliked, and set course as they began their descent through the atmosphere.

The lower they dropped the more apparent were the various structures on the face of the planet. Mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers; later Mathias pointed out what he thought was a road, a bridge, small settlements. Eventually they approached the larger city that Eiríkur had located and its large structures came into sight.

The city was built right up to the edge of a cliff, along which ran a high stone wall that bounded the entire settlement. As they drew lower it could be seen that the wall and all of the buildings beyond it were crumbling. The city lay in ruins. This was no surprise, as they had been well informed of how long this planet had lain abandoned. But it was quite a different thing to face the decay of a dead civilization face-on than hear stories about it. Even from above the gradual, uneven collapse of the city was unsettling.

There seemed to be only two openings in the wall; one on the side of the cliff, below which ran a winding stair that zigzagged back and forth across the hard stone face. The other opening was a grand gateway on the opposite side of the city which opened to a wide plane of rocky hills leading up toward towering grey mountains capped with snow.

“Set us down there, below the mountains,” Mathias said, pointing through the window toward the rocky plains. “I don’t want to climb up a cliff to get there.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Aleksander replied. “It’s pretty rocky, might not be flat enough for a solid landing.”

“Well land as far away as you need to. A kilometer if you have to,” Mathias said. “Anything but that cliff.”

Eiríkur scoffed, “Now you’re just being ridiculous. The cliff is much shorter than a kilometer; it would still be a shorter walk.”

“Yes, but it’s a cliff,” Mathias argued. “It’s inherently harder to get there climbing up a cliff.”

“There’s stairs,” Eiríkur tried to argue with him, but Mathias cut him off swiftly.

“No. No cliff!” he declared in a tone that brokered no further dissent from his crew. “No cliff,” he added one last time, just to be sure he was understood. None disagreed with him this time.

Thankfully, Aleksander was able to find them a place to land much closer than a kilometer from the city gates, between the wall and the distant mountains in a small depression in the landscape. On one end a rock outcropping reared up out of the earth and curved up over the vale, creating a small sheltered area. In all other directions the hills rolled gently away, broken only by smaller stones.

As soon as the ship was down Mathias was bounding out onto the grass, breathing deeply of the fresh air on this strange new world. The others followed him at a more sedate pace, but each made their way out, unable to contain their curiosity. They were the first humans to stand on this planet for thousands of years, and perhaps the first living creatures to stand on it since the city had been abandoned. For a long moment they simply stood and stared, gazing out across the landscape, so alien and yet so familiar.

Tino was the first to move, turning back to the ship and latching onto a ladder mounted on the side. He climbed up it with unparalleled ease until he stood flat on the top of the vessel. From his new vantage point the gunman gazed out across the landscape, taking everything in and squinting to see as far as he possibly could. It was a stunning view. Or it would be, were in not marred by the decaying city in the near distance. They were much closer now than they had been when cruising above the structures. If Tino strained his eyes he thought he could see the outlines of individual stones in the wall, and the vines of plants that had grown up over it. It was a stark contrast to the surrounding countryside. The plain on which they landed was pristine, almost virginal, the shape of the distant mountains dark and crisp against the clear blue sky. But the city was dull, grey, and broken.

“See anything interesting?” Mathias called up from the ground, and Tino tore his gaze off of the horizon to look back down at his crewmates.

“Nothing we haven’t already seen,” The sniper replied, and reluctantly moved to climb back down. “Still need to get closer to make out the details.”

“Let’s get closer, then,” Mathias enthused. But instead of heading off toward their long-awaited final destination, the captain turned right around and headed back toward the ship.

“That’s the wrong way,” Aleksander told him dryly.

“I know that,” Mathias answered without ever losing his ever present optimism. “Gotta get supplies. Can’t just go wandering off into the unknown unprepared,” he paused in his march back toward the hatch and looked over at his shoulder at the pilot, “Isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”

Aleksander huffed indignantly. “Oh now you chose to listen to me,” he muttered, but immediately started off after him because Mathias was right. They needed to have a plan before heading into the city. If they started wandering aimlessly they might get lost, or worse, and never find what they were looking for.

\----------

One impromptu and incredibly brief crew meeting later and the men were gathering what they would need for exploration of a practically uncharted world. There was no telling what they would find, and so had to be prepared for anything. However this preparation took different forms.

Aleksander was fussing over the scanner, programming or reprogramming or scanning, no one was quite sure. Tino had wiped down his trusty rifle as well as the two smaller handguns hung at his waist. Berwald had been informed there was at least one more weapon on the sniper’s body, but for the life of him he could not figure out where. The mechanic himself was not a fan of weaponry or fighting, but a wrench or a hammer could be put to several different uses. And overshadowing all of this activity was Mathias’ decision to take with him the antique axe that usually hung on the wall of his quarters.

“Are you seriously taking that thing with you?” Eiríkur asked, as horrified as any teenager currently being embarrassed by their parent.

“Of course!” Mathias grinned and hefted the axe over his shoulder. “What’s wrong with it?”

“That thing’s an antique,” the teen argued. “It’ll fall apart the minute it hits something. And do you even know how to use it?”

“Of course I do!” Mathias announced proudly. “And it’s in perfectly good condition.”

“Leave him be,” Aleksander muttered. “You’ll never convince him to leave it behind now that he’s got it out.”

Mathias gave Eiríkur a smug smile and looked as though he was just barely restraining himself from sticking his tongue out. The teen flustered and huffed indignantly, then turned on his heel. It was not often that his own brother sided against him. “Right, everyone ready to go, then?” the captain asked, and surveyed his crew. It was not often that all five of them left the ship completely unattended. But it was quite unlikely that anything could happen to it on a dead planet. “Let’s go exploring.”

The walk across the plain from where the Hofvar had been landed to the city walls was quite a decent length, and made harder by the rough terrain. But eventually the five men found themselves at the base of a massive stone wall. The stones that made it up were fit together so closely and precisely that the cracks between them were almost invisible. If not for the sprouting of plant life and a few cracks caused by the sheer age of the structure the surface would have appeared solid until much closer investigation. For nearly as far as they could see it ran to either side of their small party, broken only by an equally massive archway.

Two enormous gates stood in the archway, easily wide enough to allow their small ship to pass through. One was closed, still standing strong even as the wooden beams decayed in their iron casings. The other hung on one hinge, chipped and dented, looking ready to fall any moment and yet at the same time solid as stone.

They passed through the gates in stunned silence. There was a weight in the air, a feeling of immense stillness that was stifling. None could bear to break the silence that lay over the ruined city.

The whole settlement was built in and around the rock outcroppings that dotted the plain that ran from the mountains to the cliff at the other end of the city. Though some had been carved out to make way for immense buildings, most were intact. The stones stuck out from between buildings, diverting streets and, in some cases, serving as part of the construction itself. Plants grew from within the cracks in the street, between the stones of buildings and anywhere they could set root. Like in a morbid, stone forest entire sides of buildings were covered in moss where sunlight rarely hit. In one nearby building a tree had forced its way through a decaying roof, beams resting haphazard in its upper branches, its trunk engulfing lower levels.

The structure and style of the buildings was similar to those they had seen on Alfheim, but they lacked the feeling of naturalness and fluidity of the Alfar’s architecture. Where the Alfar’s town had rolled and moved with the lay of the land this city cut through the landscape, all straight lines and sharp corners. Except where the rocks forced compromise, everything was very carefully laid out. But closer inspection revealed similar art decorating the sides of the buildings. There were faded murals and chipped carvings and statuary onto which moss and vines had now made their home.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Mathias said, his voice barely above a whisper as they slowly proceeded down the broken street. It was unusual for him to be so quiet, but even his whisper sounded loud. Their footsteps crunching in the gravel below their feet was the only other sound to break the silence. “It’s too quiet.”

“Me too,” Tino agreed, and he was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Holding his rifle in both hands, the sniper’s gaze kept darting around and he was obviously quite tense. Too quiet was never good. “It’s like there’s nothing alive here at all. I don’t like it.”

It was indeed silent as the grave, as the saying goes. As expected from a dead planet, but still quite unsettling, especially to men so used to the constant drone of a ship’s engines in the background of their everyday lives. Nevertheless, they continued forward. Down the ruined avenue between the crumbling buildings. Aleksander kept his attention fixed on the scanner in his hands, though the others were not entirely certain what he was looking for. None of them really knew what they were looking for. Some sort of temple, the legends said. But for all they knew it could have been a warehouse. Their treasure could be in a dusty crate in a back room somewhere, or it could be in the most splendid of palaces. At this point, there was no way of knowing.

The sound that broke the silence was sudden and deafening. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. A terrible roaring, humming, a crackle like lightning, and the unmistakable groan of metal. In an instant Tino’s rifle was on his shoulder, but he had no idea where to aim. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the sound petered off and stopped. Leaving only the ringing in their ears.

“What in Hel was that?” Mathias asked, hands gripped tight on the wooden handle of his axe.

“Someone just broke atmosphere,” Aleksander replied, craning his neck to look up into the sky. But they could see nothing from their current position. “We should get back to the ship.”

“Someone?” Mathias asked. “But this planet’s dead. We’re the only ones here.”

“Not anymore,” Aleksander said. His usually monotonous voice was lined with tension.

\----------

They practically ran back the way they had come, eyes still skyward as they searched for some sign of their company. “There!” it was Eiríkur who spotted it first, just as they came streaking through the ruined gates and out onto the plain. He pointed into the distance. All that could be seen was an oblong black spot hovering above the distant horizon. But it had not been there before.

Immediately all heads turned in the direction the teen was pointing. “Is it headed this way?” Mathias demanded.

“I can’t tell,” Tino said, squinting to try and see the spot more clearly. “Still too far away.”

Mathias cursed. But they had to assume it would find them. “Get back to the ship,” he ordered, voice tense. No one argued.

Moments later, panting, the men clambered back aboard their own vessel so quickly there was nearly a traffic jam in hatch and in the hall as they raced into the bridge. As Aleksander took his seat and began pulling up their sensors Tino leaned forward until his face was nearly pressed against the glass of the main window. “It’s definitely coming this way,” the sniper announced. “Headed straight for us.”

And sure enough, as the others looked, the ship was significantly bigger, and growing by the second. It was now quite clear even to the others that it was indeed a space craft of some kind. Long and sleek and comparable in size to the Hofvar. And as it drew closer eventually the markings on the side became visible.

“That’s the same ship that attacked us near Muspellheim!” Tino exclaimed. It was instantly recognizable, the only one of its kind they had ever seen.

“What in Hel? How did they find us?” a flabbergasted Mathias asked. “Have they been following us?”

“I couldn’t say,” Aleksander shook his head, equally dumbfounded. “They didn’t show up on any of our sensors.”

“But theirs might be better than ours,” Eiríkur suggested. “That ship is brand new. They might be able to hide from our sensors or just have a longer range than we do.”

“Well shit. What do we do?” Mathias asked.

But no one had an answer. This was so strange that no one knew how to respond. If the police vessel had been following them this whole time then they probably could have attacked them at any time. Instead they had followed them all the way to Asgard completely undetected until their landing on the planet. But why? How could they have known it was worth the effort to follow this one pirate vessel?

The whole crew practically held their breaths while the police ship landed in the same small valley as them. That was an extremely bold move, and arrogant to show yourself so openly to an enemy without taking any precautions. It made Mathias grind his teeth in annoyance.

But then there was an immediate flurry of movement. With an enemy parked on their doorstep they could expect to get into a fight. Tino ran back to his room to strap on as many guns as he could hold. Mathias, too, outfitted himself for an expected showdown. An outlaw could never be too careful, after all, when face to face with law enforcement.

The five-man crew emerged from their vessel cautiously. So far there was no sign of movement from the other ship, which was making Mathias nervous. Then, when all five stood on solid ground, wary and prepared for anything, a door on the side of the police vessel opened.


	18. Enemy at the Gate

All five men waited with bated breath as the police vessel slowly opened. The hatch slid open without a sound, far different from the groaning and scraping that always emitted from Hofvar when its hatches opened. Of course, nearly everything about the police vessel was the polar opposite of Hofvar. The police craft was brand new, polished to a shine that was almost blinding under the rays of this planet’s alien sun, paint fresh and without a single scratch or smudge. The Hofvar was old and showed its age. The police craft was just as intimidating on its own as it was as a symbol of the government that would happily see the Hofvar and its crew completely destroyed.

The man that stepped off the ship was tall, almost as tall as Berwald. He wore the uniform of a governmental police officer; that crisp, starched khaki jacket with its shiny brass buttons and decorated with various awards and signs of rank that only Tino could recognize and identify. His pale hair framed a round, almost childish face that smiled sweetly across the expanse at the rag-tag pirate crew. Immediately Tino stiffened, hands moving to his weapons defensively. Berwald noticed this change, slight as it was, and his frown deepened. As he stepped down from the police ship the man looked over the ship and crew that were before him with a curious and discerning eye. And when his eyes landed on Tino his expression became even more curious.

“Tinoshka ,” the man’s smile widened until it became almost predatory. “I did not expect to see you here. I am sad to see you have fallen in with… this sort.”

“I’ve told you not to call me that,” Tino replied stiffly.

“Ah, my apologies. It has been so long, I forget these things,” the man replied. “But I am still surprised to see my Tino among pirates.”

“Where did you expect me to go?” Tino replied.

“Woah woah woah!” Before the man could answer Tino’s question Mathias interrupted, stepping in front of his weapons specialist with a protective hand on his shoulder. “No one talks to my crew that way. Who are you? And how do you know Tino?”

Only then did the man turn his attention to the other crew members. From the ship now had also emerged two others, also in their crisp khaki uniform jackets, less decorated, but no less intimidating in their presence; lower ranked officers. A man and a woman; the former probably the least intimidating of the group, far shorter than his superior, his uniform seemed ill-fitting and though he wore his brown hair tied back it did little to keep the strands out of his face. The woman, on the other hand, was easily as intimidating as the first man despite her small stature. There was something that hinted at violence in the way she carried herself, in her tightly pulled back platinum hair, and in the cold expression on her face. After stepping down from the ship’s hatch both positioned themselves a step behind the officer who had preceded them. “Your crew?” he asked, and tilted his head to the side like a curious animal as he stared at Mathias. “Then you are the captain of this… vessel?”

“I am! And I want to know who you are! You followed us here, stalking us for the gods know how long, and now you’re seriously upsetting one of my crew,” Mathias snapped angrily. “So who the Hel are you? And what do you want with us?”

“With you?” the man asked. “I want nothing with you or your crew… Except, perhaps, for Tino, but that is beside the point. No, I want the same thing that you want; the treasure.”

For a long moment there was nothing but silence. 

“How do you know—“

“What treasure?” Aleksander spoke quickly to cut off his captain before the man gave away anything. But he was not fast enough.

The officer chuckled softly and continued to smile that same sickeningly sweet smile. “Do not play dumb,” he replied. “I know what you have come here for. Your hacker may be good, but ours are better. One does not uncover classified documents and expect not to be followed. And we were certainly surprised when we saw what he began looking at after breaking into our files.”

“What did you do to Eduard?!” Tino demanded immediately, eyes gone wide at the mere implication that his friend could have come to any harm.

“Eduard?” the officer looked back at him and frowned very slightly. “Ah, your hacker, I assume. No, unfortunately your station, your … Chariot, is it called? Remains as elusive as ever. Your craft, on the other hand…” He trailed off and cast a less than impressed look at the Hofvar, looming unthreateningly behind the pirates.

“You’ve been following us since we left Muspellheim?” Tino asked stiffly. He found himself wishing suddenly that he had done more than just disable their ships engines.

“Not exactly,” the officer replied, and favored Tino with a predatory grin. “We did not know, during our little run in, that you were the ones searching for this thing. But when we arrived on Muspellheim ourselves and found that someone had been there before us, it did not take long to put the pieces together. We did not catch up with you until Jötunheimr. Though, I admit I was surprised we could after the repairs we were forced to make. That is when we decided to stay out of your sensor range and merely tag along for the ride.”

And let the pirates do all the hard work. But why stop now? The pirate crew had not yet uncovered the last key, let alone the location of the fabled treasure. “Tell us who you are!” Mathias demanded again.

“Ivan Braginksy. Lieutenant Commander in the military police.” To everyone’s surprise it was Tino who answered. The little gunman had not moved from Berwald’s side, but his demeanor had changed entirely since they came off the ship. He was tense all over, spine rigid as an iron bar and fingers clenched white-knuckled around the rifle in his hands. The expression on his face was a mixture of anger and horror, lavender eyes wide and jaw clenched.

“Captain now, Tinoshka,” the officer replied with that same stomach-churning grin as he looked at the sniper. “Some things have changed since you left us. But I am not surprised you do not know.”

Mathias turned quickly to his weapons officer. “Tino, you know this guy?” he demanded, fed up with having his questions ignored and subverted. 

“Yes,” Tino replied solemnly. “We were in boot camp together.”

“Is he the one you stabbed?” Mathias asked.

“No,” the gunman shook his head. Although judging by the look on his face he would have liked to.

“No,” the officer repeated, still with that sickening sweet smile on his face. “But I am sure you will be happy to know that the Commander has regained full use of his arm. No small feat after what you did to his shoulder.”

“I’ll send him a fruit basket,” Tino spat sarcastically. 

“My how these ruffians have changed you. So sweet you used to be, Tinoshka,” Ivan cooed. 

“I said don’t call me that!” Tino practically growled. It was the angriest the others had ever seen him. The gunman’s deadly skills were usually overshadowed by his cheerful demeanor; his tale of discharge for assault seemed so fake when it came from his smiling lips. And for all his love of firearms, Tino usually cowed at the idea of actually hurting someone. Now they were given a glimpse of the Tino that could have done such a thing.

“Apologies,” Ivan replied, though he sounded less than sincere. 

“You never answered my question,” Mathias interrupted before their conversation could go on any longer. It was making him uncomfortable. “What do you want with us?”

Ivan turned his gaze from Tino to the captain and sneered at him. “Yes I did,” he said, “I don’t want anything with you. What use could I have for pirate scum?”

Mathias bristled. Though it was an insult he had grown used to he still did not like it. “Then what do you want?” He asked tightly.

“The same thing that you want,” Ivan said. “The treasure.”

“What treasure?” Aleksander asked, hoping that feigned ignorance would help them in some way. To no avail.

“Do not play stupid with me,” Ivan said, favoring the rag-tag pirate crew with a look of mild disgust. “We have tracked your little hacker’s path. We know exactly what you are aiming for. Or do you expect me to believe you have come to the uncharted part of the galaxy just for fun? I am not as stupid as the people you are used to dealing with.”

Aleksander grit his teeth in frustration. It had been worth a try, at least, but this officer had clearly earned his rank through more than sucking up. 

“Not smart enough to wait until we had actually found it,” Eiríkur scoffed. Ivan frowned. It was the first time that sickening smile had left his face since he emerged from his ship. “What do you even want it for?”

“A device that is supposedly capable of producing material from thin air?” Ivan asked, “We wish to study it; and to keep it out of pirate hands. It would be incredibly dangerous to allow any of your sort to gain control of such potentially dangerous technology.”

Mathias scoffed and raked a hand through his hair. “So you expect us to just hand it over to you after we’ve done all the hard work? Of course you don’t, so how is this going to work? Are we going to have a shoot out? Setting things right here and now?”

“You certainly are a savage lot,” Ivan said, and that smile returned to his face. “I was hoping we could negotiate; be civil about this.”

“We can negotiate,” Aleksander was quick to agree, stepping forward. Anything to avoid an incident. The pirates appeared to outnumber the military police now, but he doubted there were only three people on that ship. The government was not stupid enough to send three officers into the unknown following a lone pirate vessel on a whim. Come to think of it, it seemed unlikely that the government would have approved a trip beyond the asteroid belt in the first place. How serious were they about acquiring this supposed technology? “But it looks like we hold all the cards,” Aleksander continued, “You won’t be able to get the treasure without the keys we’ve already obtained. What could you possibly offer to make up the value of those keys?”

“I could not arrest you all here and now,” Ivan replied. He showed the arrogance and self-confidence that was common among military personnel. None ever worried about the justification or repercussions of their actions, and they were secure in their position as greater than any other citizen of the galaxy.

“We’re not doing anything illegal,” Aleksander protested. 

“Not now. But you hacked into the government’s classified files and fired upon a government police ship,” Ivan reminded them.

“None of us hacked your files,” Aleksander reminded him. “And you have no proof, anyway. We also only fired on you after you attacked us. You would have shot us out of the sky. It was self defense.”

Ivan chuckled softly. “You think a court will believe your word over mine?”

“Our ship’s computers will show that our hull was damaged before the weapons array was activated,” Aleksander pointed out. “And we can easily convince a court that we are too stupid to alter those records.” That was no great feat, actually. It was probably harder to convince government officials of their actual capabilities than to pretend to be ignorant. The sneer that crossed Ivan’s face briefly showed that he knew the same. “You will have to come up with a better offer.”

“I have one other offer,” Ivan said. His eyes left Aleksander and slid back over to Tino, who was still on edge; still incredibly uncomfortable with this whole situation. “I can offer Tinoshka his commission back.”

Tino’s violet eyes went wide. “What?”

“I can see that your previous indiscretions are erased from your record,” Ivan said, his smile growing wider as he watched Tino’s reaction. “You can have your rank back, you can come back to the military. We will say that these two years have been an undercover operation. I am certain the government would be more than happy to have you back after your assistance retrieving so valuable an artifact and by bringing these outlaws to justice.”

Tino was so stunned he could not speak. This was what he had wanted all this time, wasn’t it? He wanted to go back to his secure life of enforcing the law instead of running from it. No more worrying about where his next meal would come from. No more fear of arrest. He had never been more paranoid than right after joining this crew. That paranoia had dulled over time, however, and now these were the only friends he had.

“I will give you some time to think it over,” Ivan continued when Tino remained silent. “Until the morning. Bring the keys to me by then and I will let you all leave this planet unharmed, I will see Tinoshka returned to his former status, and I may even forget about the illegal actions that brought you this far.” Without another word, the officer turned around, his long coat billowing out around him, and mounted the steps back into his vehicle. It was clear that he neither expected nor welcomed any response, though Mathias opened his mouth to speak before realizing this was the case and only barely managed to stop before shouting out and making a fool of himself. 

The other two soldiers followed their leader back into the ship and the hatch closed after them with a resounding clang. Only when the echo had faded completely did any of the outlaws move again. Tense and silent, Tino turned on his heel, clutching his rifle to his chest, and went immediately back into the ship. Berwald moved to follow him, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. “Let him be,” Aleksander advised. 

\----------

After fleeing onto the ship Tino had shut himself up in his quarters and though outside the sun was dipping below the horizon and the ship’s clocks told them it was early morning Tino had not yet emerged. The gunman was clearly bothered by the day’s encounter, and by now the others were starting to worry. There were heavy implications behind Ivan’s words that afternoon.

Mathias was pacing back and forth in the galley, surrounded by the three members of the crew who had been with him the longest. “He’s trying to get Tino to betray us!” the captain exclaimed. And he was obviously worried that Tino might do just that. It was no secret that this was not the sort of life that Tino wanted to live. Now, suddenly, he had his old life offered to him on a silver platter. 

“Swede!” He stopped and spun toward the engineer. Berwald sat up straighter, expecting and insult or attack, but he received neither. Instead Mathias was looking at him with desperation in his eyes. “You need to talk to him! Convince him to stay with us!”

Berwald blinked at him. “What?”

“You’re the one sleeping with him!” Mathias practically ran over to the man and grabbed him by the shoulders. “You’re his biggest reason to stay! So you have to go convince him he likes you more than he wants to go back to the government! Because if he goes back to them we’re screwed!”

The idea of Tino leaving was too horrifying for Berwald to fathom. Even Mathias’ tactless pleads were not enough to bother him. Without a word the mechanic nodded and broke free of Mathias’ grip on his shoulders as he stood. He would talk to Tino; do what he could to convince him to stay. He had to.

After Berwald left the galley Eiríkur spoke up, a thoughtful look on his face. “How come I’m the only one on this ship not getting laid?” he asked.

Mathias looked over at him and smirked slightly. “I could help you with that if—OW!” the captain was cut off as Aleksander punched him hard. He pouted and rubbed at his jaw. “If your brother wouldn’t kill me,” he finished eventually.

\-----------

Berwald stopped in the doorway after the door slid open to admit him into Tino’s quarters. The sniper was sitting at the small table reassembling one of his guns. He did this so often that Berwald had come to think it was more of a nervous habit than necessary maintenance. Tino certainly had reason to be nervous right now.

When the smaller man did not look up upon his entrance Berwald cleared his throat nervously, “T’no?”

Tino was startled. He must have been concentrating hard. His head whipped around. “Oh, Berwald, it’s just you,” he sighed after spotting the man. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” the tall man mumbled. “Can I talk to ya?” he asked nervously.

“Of course. What is it, Berwald?” Tino queried. Berwald never asked to talk; this was unusual behavior for him. 

But the mechanic did not reply right away. He was not good with words, he never had been. So how could he talk Tino into staying? Maybe he should just take Mathias’ suggestion, veiled as it had been, and show him with actions, rather than words, how much he wanted the sniper to stay. Without a word Berwald crossed the room until he was standing right next to Tino, who looked up at him with a little trepidation until the taller man crouched down to be at his level.

“What’s wrong?” Tino asked again when Berwald still did not say anything.

And rather than answer with words, because words always failed him, Berwald leaned forward and caught the other man’s lips with his own. If Tino was surprised it did not last long, and then he leaned into the kiss sweetly. When they parted Berwald moved onto the bed and pulled Tino along with him. The sniper did not protest, but his expression was decidedly curious. Berwald remained silent. He drew Tino onto his lap, arms wrapping comfortably around the smaller man’s waist 

“Berwald, this is nice and all,” Tino hummed pleasantly as the other man pressed kisses against his neck. “But now’s not really the time, don’t you think?” But Berwald did not answer him. This made Tino frown. Berwald did not talk much, but he usually answered direct questions. “What are you doing?” he tried one more time, but still received no answer and now Berwald’s hands had begun pulling up the bottom of his shirt. “Wait, Berwald,” Tino entreated softly. When there was still no change and Tino was starting to get frightened. “Berwald, stop!”

The engineer stopped immediately. Raising his head from the crook of Tino’s neck Berwald looked at him with the expression of a kicked puppy.

“What’s gotten into you?” Tino asked in alarm.

“M’sorry,” Berwald mumbled.

Tino pushed away from him and climbed back to his feet, shaken and confused. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

“I did, I…” Berwald stammered. The last thing he wanted to do was give Tino any reason to leave, but it seemed he had done just that. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at talkin’.”

“So then what was all… that?” Tino asked, gesturing toward Berwald and the bed.

Berwald stared down at the floor. He had messed up and he knew it. “Just… wanted t’let you know… I love you,” he mumbled in reply.

“I know that,” Tino said, but that was obviously not the answer he was looking for. 

Hesitantly, Berwald looked up again and searched Tino’s face, though he was uncertain exactly what he was looking for. “What happened between you ‘n that officer?” he asked.

Immediately Tino stiffened and looked away, suddenly finding the bare metal wall fascinating. “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s none of your business,” he said brusquely. 

“Sorry,” Berwald mumbled again, and looked back down. But he could not help thinking it was his business if Tino was planning on taking the offer. After all, that was what Tino had wanted all along, right? “Don’t want you t’go,” he said quietly.

“What?” Tino looked back at him and frowned, wondering if he had heard that properly. 

“I don’ want you t’go,” Berwald said again.

“What makes you think I’m going anywhere?” Tino asked in surprise.

But if he was surprised, then Berwald was even more so. “’Cause that man said…” he stammered a bit, thrown for a loop by Tino’s question. Did that mean he was not planning to take the offer? Was he not even considering it? “An’ you hate livin’ like this, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Tino said, serious, but also somewhat flippant. “I do.” As he continued all lightheartedness left the gunman’s voice; he turned deadly serious, speaking with a conviction that Berwald had never heard from him before. “But I hate that man with every fiber of my being, and I would rather die than be put under his command. And I know… I know that if I took that offer he would see to it that I stayed his subordinate, his pawn, until I died. Getting back my rank isn’t worth that. And neither is betraying all of you.”

Berwald was stunned, to say the least. He had never imagined Tino capable of such hatred toward anyone. It made him all the more curious to know what had happened between the two men in the past, but he was not foolish enough to ask again. Berwald had to admit, as well, that he was relieved. He definitely did not worry about Tino leaving anymore. 

“I’m sorry I made you worry,” Tino said after taking a moment to calm himself down. “I guess I made you all worry. I just needed to clear my head. I promise I never even considered his offer.” Offering Berwald a small smile, Tino gave the other man a soft kiss before turning away again and going back to his small table to finish putting his guns back together. “You can go tell the others they have nothing to worry about. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Immediately, Tino set back to work on his guns, which he did not like to leave in pieces for any length of time, but Berwald did not leave right away. Guns were the only mechanical item Berwald had never had any interest in taking apart and putting back together. Tino did enough for the both of them and someone else besides. The gunman’s small hands worked quickly and skillfully as they wiped down, polished, and inspected the dozens of pieces set out before him. Apart, the carefully laid out parts barely resembled a gun, but Tino easily slid them all back into place until he held in his hands one of the pistols that usually adorned his hip. Guns were the only thing Berwald was not capable of building, repairing, or otherwise tinkering with, and he found Tino’s ease somewhat fascinating.

When he finished reassembling his two pistols, Tino set them back down on the table and smiled to himself in satisfaction. During the whole process he had seemed unaware of Berwald’s presence, and when he looked up was startled to see the man still standing by the door. “You’re still here,” he observed in surprise. Berwald just nodded silently. “Well,” Tino said, and stood up, “I feel much better, I say we go show Ivan we’re not scared of him. What do you think?”

Berwald did not look very convinced that this was a good idea. “What do you wanna do?” he asked tentatively.

“Find Sampo before him. And get the hell off this rock before he even knows it,” Tino replied. “Beat him at his own game, in a way.”

Berwald had to admit that was a good idea. He had been expecting more violence and less tact from Tino, especially with how angry he had been earlier. “Sounds good,” he said with a curt nod.

Tino grinned at him, “Come on then, let’s get the others.”

\----------

All three of their fellow crew members were crammed on the ratty, old sofa in the galley when Berwald and Tino emerged again. It was unusual to find Mathias anywhere but his favorite faded red armchair, and seeing him squeezed onto the sofa - too small for three people to sit comfortably - with the two brothers was very telling of how concerned he was about this whole situation. 

Berwald stepped into the galley first, momentarily filling up the small doorway with his large form. Straight away Mathias perked up and questions were spewing from his lips, “That was fast,” he said, voice laced with concern. “Did it work? It didn’t, did it? That’s why you’re back so soon, he kicked you out.”

“Don’t be crude,” Tino interrupted before Mathias’ train of thought could go any further, stepping out from behind Berwald. “If you honestly thought you needed Berwald to seduce me into staying, you’re stupider than I thought,” the sniper told him curtly. “Now, are we going to hunt some treasure, or are we going to sit around here worrying about those government pigs?”

For a long moment the galley was filled only with stunned silence. “But it’s the middle of the night,” Mathias said.

“What better time to sneak past them unnoticed?” Tino said with a shrug. “We’ll have a huge head start by the time Ivan realizes we won’t give in to his demands.”

Mathias practically leapt out of his chair. “Well then what are we waiting for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tinoshka” - the ‘-shka’ is a suffix used to create affectionate nicknames in Russian.  
> The ranks of the military police are based on those of the Danish Royal Navy.


	19. City of the Gods

It was well past midnight – or so they thought, because no one yet knew the length of days nor nights on Asgard – but the sun was not yet on the horizon. The stars that glittered between clouds in the sky were in unfamiliar constellations, but space travelers were not troubled by this the way a planet-bound person might be. The crew of the Hofvar gathered everything they could need for exploration of an unknown planet.

For Aleksander, this was his portable scanner, the three strange keys they had already acquired – these wrapped carefully in a scrap of cloth and tucked into the inside pocket of his coat – and a set of curious looking disk-shaped devices with an array of buttons on one side, an extendable antenna, and the other side coated with adhesive. Tracking devices, he explained when asked, to prevent them from getting lost and to help chart a map of the city ruins.

Eiríkur had similarly outfitted himself with what technology he thought would be most useful when trekking through the ruins of a city like this. About his neck hung a pair of goggles equipped with a variety of features from magnifying to infrared that might be useful in their quest. In a backpack he had packed excavating tools – a collapsible shovel, a few small explosives, and support devices – and a small first-aid kit.

Tino freshly cleaned his guns and armed himself with as many as he could carry. A pistol on each hip, as was his habit, with an extra magazine for each tucked inside his jacket. His favorite rifle was slung over one shoulder along with plenty of ammunition. Lastly, so as not to ever be caught unawares, a micro energy pistol tucked inside his boot. Usually Tino hated energy weapons, he much preferred good old fashioned bullets, but he had to admit that they were far more compact than traditional guns, packing a bigger punch for their size and much more easily concealed.

Not a fan of weaponry himself, Berwald was outfitted with only his usual tool belt, though it had been filled with a new variety of tools. Gone were his usual assortment of nuts, bolts, screws, and various intricate tools needed for the more delicate parts of the engine. These were replaced with a lock pick, which he doubted would be of any use against any lock they would find on this planet, but just in case. In a pinch a pipe wrench served as a good defensive weapon, if he found that his fists would not do.

For Mathias, preparing for the exploration of an uncharted planet involved unbolting the antique ax from the wall of his quarters and giving it a quick polish, in addition to outfitting himself with as many knives and daggers as was practical despite the wary glances of his crew members. 

"Are you honestly taking that thing with you?" Eirirkur had asked, eyeing the ax with a nervous eye and all the embarrassment of any teenager forced to confront parents in horribly out-of-date clothing.

"Of course!" Mathias said excitedly, staring at the ancient weapon with obvious pride.

"Do you even know how to use it?" Eirikur asked.

"Of course I know how to use it," Mathias replied, and frowned at him very briefly. "You think I keep this thing around just for decoration?"

"It'll probably break the first time you hit something with it," Eirikur scoffed; anything to get him to leave that eyesore behind. He didn't want to listen to Mathias complain about having to lug it around, as he was sure would happen sooner rather than later. And what good would it be, anyway? What good were any of the captain's blades in the face of modern weaponry? But Mathias always cared more about style than practicality or effectiveness, he would not be deterred.

Their path lit only by the foreign stars and no moon – there was no moon orbiting this planet – the five men made their way across the rocky plains toward the city walls and that ancient gate. The police vessel was silent and dark as they slipped past, something all were thankful for. By the time they passed warily under the archway and into the city there was a faint light on the horizon, but the sun would not be up fully for quite some time. The dim light put a damper on their explorations. The streets were in a deplorable state, pavement and cobblestones cracked, uneven, pushed out of alignment by the shifting of the planet itself and the forceful push of roots as plants took over what had once been such carefully maintained masonry.

After passing through the arched gateway the crew paused to collect themselves and survey the situation. The sheer size of the city guaranteed that their search would take a long time. According to the information they had gotten from Eduard – what felt like ages ago, but it was only ten months since they last departed the space station – they still had one last key to find, and then the vault itself. 

In the dim light Aleksander carefully withdrew the other three keys from his pocket and unwrapped them. “I’ve run every analysis the Hofvar’s computers can do on these things and I still have no idea what they’re made of.”

“I don’t care what they’re made of,” Mathias grumbled impatiently. “As long as they open whatever they’re supposed to open.”

Aleksander cast him a sidelong glance and pulled out his scanner. “I was thinking I could program the scanner to search for this mineral. With any luck it could narrow down our search.”

This prospect caused the others to perk up hopefully. The keys fit easy into the palm of a hand, and the city ruins were kilometers wide. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack, but now they had a magnet. Quickly, Eiríkur went to his brother’s side to assist him in re-programming the scanner into a tracking device while the others scouted the immediate surroundings.

As before, the city was dead quiet, but as the sky slowly lightened above them the stillness was not quite as unnerving as it had been the day before. It did not take the brothers long to finish their work on the device, after which Aleksander carefully tucked the keys away in his pocket again. Then, with bated breath, they all waited to see if it would work. For a long moment the machine was quiet as its built-in radar sought out the material in question, and then the silence was broken by a soft beep and a small dot appeared on the screen.

“Found it,” Aleksander announced, and he sounded a little proud of himself. He took a moment to orient himself with the display, and then pointed forward and slightly to his left. “That way.”

\----------

The hope was that Aleksander’s make-shift tracker would lead them directly to the last key, and to the temple that they sought, but of course it was not that simple. As it turned out, the material was rather common; they found it in mosaic tiles and broken vases, ornate jewelry and all sorts of strange trinkets. But with little other choice, the crew followed the soft blipping of Aleksander’s scanner through the ruins of this once great city, pursuing every single lead with the hopes it would be what they were searching for. It was slow going, however. With only the one scanner they were not able to split up and cover more ground, and the mineral showed up in many things that were not what they were looking for. And each time they uncovered another false lead Aleksander could feel the others’ frustration growing. 

“Don’t you think something like this would be in a temple or a bank vault, or something?” Mathias asked when their latest search uncovered nothing but an old jewelry box. The sun was risen by now and had been up for some time. “Somewhere secure?”

“Most likely,” Aleksander had to agree. But knowing that did not help them at all. “If you know where one is you are more than welcome to take the lead.”

Mathias deflated immediately. That was the true problem. They had no idea where they were or where they were going, relying solely on the scanner to tell them their position and give them directions. “Doesn’t help that we can’t see anything from down here,” he muttered in frustration. “Every street looks exactly like the others. For all we know there’s a temple on the other side of this building and it’s right there, but we’d walk right past it.” And because they had decided to search the city in a grid, to avoid missing anything or going over the same spot twice, they might not reach something one street over for days. But there was no way around that, as far as anyone could tell.

“Um,” Tino hesitated to speak up, raising his hand shyly to get their attention. He had an idea, but felt certain it would be shot down. “I could climb up to the top of one of these buildings and have a look around,” he offered.

Immediately the other four turned to him. Their stares were enough to make him shrink in shame and wish he had never brought up the idea. “You know… scout the surroundings?” he said hesitantly. “A temple might look different from the other buildings and I could see it from up there?”

“That’s actually a really good idea,” Aleksander said. 

“It is?” Eiríkur asked in surprise. “These things look like they would fall down in a strong wind. That can’t be safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tino assured. “I’m sure they look worse than they are. If they’re still standing after thousands of years how likely are they to fall down now? Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could die,” Berwald pointed out.

“I’ll be fine,” Tino insisted. “I did this kind of stuff all the time in the military. I know what I’m doing.”

The others did not look as though they completely believed him. It had been a long time since Tino was on active military duty, and he had spent over a year almost entirely confined to the Hofvar. That would be enough to ruin anyone’s agility. But Tino was already heading for the nearest building; little more than a pile of rubble. Berwald followed after him, again trying to dissuade Tino from this idea, but the Finn merely brushed him off and handed Berwald his rifle as he pulled himself up atop a slab of stone.

With a practiced ease, Tino scaled the side of the ruined structure while the others watched with bated breath. His movements caused dust and pebbles to fall from around his unsure footholds with nearly every step. Finally he reached the top and perched more-or-less securely on the highest remaining corner of the building. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath and gain his bearings, Tino looked around. “You can see the whole city from up here!” he shouted down to them, gazing out across the landscape. “It’s amazing!”

“Do you see anything?” Mathias called back up. He was a little jealous that he didn’t get to see the view, and eager to get his hands on that some treasure, of course. 

“Not yet!” Tino called back, and looked around more. “We should have done a better survey by ship,” he added, causing Aleksander to frown. Then, for a long moment more, Tino was silent as he stared out at their surroundings. Slowly he turned around to look in every direction for anything that stood out from the rest of the city.

Suddenly, Tino stood straight upright, even rising up on his toes to heighten his vantage point. With his lavender eyes wide he pointed to something in the distance. “Aarnivalkea! ” the sniper exclaimed, but received only confused silence from his crew members. “I can see it! That must be where Sampo is hidden!” And immediately he was scrambling down from the top of the ruins so quickly that Berwald ran over, ready to catch him should he fall. The gunman’s descent was accompanied by a small shower of gravel and stone as bits of the building collapsed beneath his hasty, careless feet. But he made it down in one peace, feet once more on solid ground and brushing off Berwald’s worry as he excitedly announced his findings to the rest of the crew. “I know where it is, I saw it!”

“Saw what?” Mathias asked what he knew they were all wondering.

“Aarnivalkea!” Tino replied. When he received only clueless stares back the Finn gave an annoyed sigh and rolled his eyes. “The flame that marks hidden treasure?” He spoke as though it were obvious and the others complete idiots for not knowing. But he still saw no recognition in their eyes. “You’ve all been listening to the wrong legends.”

“So, what, you saw something on fire and that’s supposed to mean the treasure is there?” Mathias asked incredulously.

“Not normal fire, faerie fire,” Tino corrected. “I saw it from up there,” he pointed back toward his previous perch. “There’s a building – looks like it might be a temple or something – and there was a flame over it. A white flame.”

“White flame,” Mathias still did not seem to believe him. “Are you sure it wasn’t just a cloud?”

“Do you see any clouds?” Tino asked in exasperation, gesturing wildly toward the clear blue sky. There was not a cloud in sight. “I know what I saw. My eyes never lie.”

A momentary silence fell over the group. They were all probably considering the same thing, whether or not to go toward this thing that Tino so vehemently believed in when there were probably numerous explanations for a white flame to appear above a building. Finally Eiríkur broke the silence. “I say we go check it out,” he said. “It won’t be any less productive than what we’re doing right now.” It was a valid point. They were not making any progress in their search; this was actually the best lead they had.

“Well then,” Mathias sighed in defeat. It still sounded insane to him, but at least they would not longer be wandering aimlessly. “Tino, lead the way,” he said with a melodramatic sweep of his arms. 

Tino grinned, victorious, and took a moment to orient himself. Everything looked much different from street level. “That way,” he announced eventually, pointing off down the street.

\----------

Following Tino’s guidance, they passed through the city at a much quicker pace. Aleksander still kept his scanner out and was keeping a close eye on it. It was clear he did not put much stock in Tino’s sighting, but he did not call their attention to any of the things the scanner picked up. After checking this building Tino had spotted they could always retrace their steps.

Although retracing theirs steps would take quite a while. They walked for nearly half an hour before Tino supposed they were drawing close to the structure. Even he admitted that it was difficult to judge distances in the confines of the city streets, but he remained confident of their course.

Very suddenly the street opened before them. The crumbling buildings parted, falling away to reveal a wide, long plaza. Abruptly the five men stopped to take stock of their surroundings. Only a few meters in front of them the cracked and buckling pavement gave way to many-colored cobblestones. These were likewise uneven, cracked, and with whole large stones missing in places. The plaza was lined with trees and stone planters that had once been well manicured. Now the plants fought for dominance in their limited livable space, some dead or dying, others overgrown, cascading beyond their feeble containers and reaching for the cracks between stones. At the end of the plaza sat a most impressive building. It was not the largest they had yet seen in the city, but it was the most beautiful.

The architectural style was wholly different from the tall, square buildings that lined the streets they had explored thus far. The structure worked its way upward in tiers, vaulted roofs with golden shingles dulled by time shone in the midday sun. From afar, the structure appeared to be made of wood, but that could not possibly be the case. There was no way a wooden structure could have survived so long untended and still standing. 

“That’s it!” Tino exclaimed suddenly, pointing toward the building and to its uppermost tier; a spire that reached upwards as though to pierce the sky. “Look, the flame is still burning!”

And sure enough, as the others turned their eyes to the roof they saw it too. Certainly not a wisp of cloud, the flame stood tall and strong, burning pure white against the blue sky. Somehow, after all these years, the light was still shining. That beacon atop the temple, marking it for all to see. It was strange that the flam still burned so strong and true when all else was crumbling around it. 

"Well I’ll be damned,” Mathias said, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he stared at the strange flame.

“I told you,” Tino said smugly.

“How is it still burning, though?” Eiríkur asked. “The city’s been abandoned for at least a hundred years.”

“Magic,” Tino informed him.

“Don’t be stupid,” Aleksander sighed. “Obviously it just hasn’t run out of fuel yet. I’m more curious to know what makes it burn that color.”

To Berwald it did not matter, and at any rate they would not find out by standing around here. So he ignored the ensuing argument and began heading toward the building, knowing the others would soon follow; and they did.

However, as the men drew closer it was easy to tell that the building’s condition was just as poor as everything else in the city. Where designs had been carved or painted onto the pillars and eves about the door there were chips in the wood and paint, colors faded in the sun over time and carvings worn down by the elements. The wide door stood closed, but that did not stop Mathias from walking right up and shoving at them. Unsurprisingly, the doors did not budge, so he tried pulling on them. Again, the doors stayed in place. “It’s locked,” he observed.

“Obviously,” Aleksander replied dryly. In his hands his make-shift radar was going off the charts, so he shut it down, stuffing it into his coat. This was clearly the building they were looking for, no need to search further. But now they were faced with the problem of getting in, and they still had only three of the four keys they would supposedly need to get in. But did that mean getting into the temple itself? Or only getting into the treasure chamber? “Berwald,” the pilot looked back at the tall man, “What do you make of this door? Can we get in?”

Without a word Berwald stepped forward. He pushed and pulled at it first, just as Mathias had, with no better results. Then he ran his fingers down the seam between the door and its frame. He rattled the handle, and then knelt down to examine the locking mechanism as best he could. “Looks like a normal lock,” the engineer commented, a little surprised. 

“A normal lock?” Mathias asked, equally surprised and also a bit disappointed. “What did we get all these fancy keys for if it’s just a normal lock?”

“I imagine those are for a vault deeper in,” Aleksander said thoughtfully. “If this is even the right place.”

“This has to be the right place,” Tino insisted as Berwald knelt down and began working on getting them inside the building. “It’s got the white flame, and we’ve seen by now that all the old legends are based on truth.” 

“No offense, Tino,” Eiríkur commented. “But none of us have heard of that before.”

Tino pouted a little and crossed his arms stubbornly. “Well,” he said, “I say you’ve all been listening to the wrong legends. And you’re lucky I’m here to point out the obvious.”

“I’m tryin’ to concentrate,” Berwald interrupted tersely, because while this appeared to be a fairly standard lock, with pins and barrels, it was an incredibly complicated one. Whatever was kept inside this building must have been of great importance; unless this was actually a fairly standard lock by Asgardian standards. The crew was certainly at a great disadvantage knowing so little about the culture and civilization on this planet. At Berwald’s stern complaint the others all quieted down and even stepped away to give him plenty of room to work.

And for two hours Berwald continued to fiddle with that lock. Several times he thought he was close to unlocking it only to feel another peace slide out of place. But then finally the whole thing fell into perfect alignment so easily it was as though the mechanism had been teasing him this whole time. “I got it,” Berwald said in amazement, but so softly no one overheard him. The others had long since gotten bored waiting and were sitting a ways away talking quietly. “I got it,” Berwald repeated louder. That time it got their attention.

“What? Really?” Mathias asked, and leapt to his feet to run over and see, he was quickly followed by the others. Very carefully Berwald removed his tools from the lock and pushed on the door. It was heavy, and stiff from centuries of disuse, but with a bit of strength Berwald was able to shove it open enough to peer inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aarnivalkea – from Finnish mythology, a place where an eternal flame marks the location of a treasure. Similar to a will-o-wisp.


	20. The Vault

The interior of the building was dark. Light filtered in from holes in the roof where time had taken its toll on the structure, and now from the open door, although this was still blocked by Berwald and the others as they quickly crowded around him to peer inside. Mathias was the first to push past them all and step inside. It was not much to look at. Rather a disappointment. Dust and filth lay in a fine coating over everything. The room in which they currently stood was lined with benches, most of which were broken or upended. Those that were not still did not appear very sturdy. Windows high on the walls had been shuttered permanently centuries ago but some of the boards were beginning to come loose.

At the far end of the room there were two doors, and as soon as he spotted them that was straight were Mathais headed. He did so recklessly and without hesitation, barely sparing a glance at the rest of the building. Clearly this room was not what they were looking for, so it did not matter to him. The others were more cautious. 

“Hold on, you idiot,” Aleksander complained as he began to follow their headstrong captain. “It might be dangerous.”

“No,” Mathias answered blithely. “It’s stood this long, what are the chances? Hey, come look at this.” He had already reached one of the doors at the back of the room and stopped to look at it closely. Setting his ancient axe head down on the floor he leaned against the arm as he studied the wood and waited for the others to catch up with him.

It was several minutes before the rest of them picked their way across the littered floor and stood comfortably around him. By then Mathias had gotten a good look at the door and was nodding to himself. “Doesn’t this look like one of those fancy keys would fit in it?” he asked, and pointed to a strange indentation in the wood.

Aleksander leaned forward to take a look. They all did, in fact, but with Mathias and Aleksander crowded around there was not much for them to see. From inside the pockets of his coat Aleksander took out the three keys they had found so far. Sure enough, they looked like they would fit perfectly within the indentation in the door.

“How do we know which one goes where?” Tino asked curiously. He stared over Aleksander’s shoulder at the three keys. To him they all looked exactly the same except for the different colored gems at their center.

“Trial and error,” Aleksander replied with a shrug. Because no matter how many tests he had run on them they still appeared exactly the same. For all he knew they were fakes, or redundant.

“Then let’s try one,” Mathias said. He plucked one of the strange, diamond-shaped artifacts from the palm of Aleksander’s hand and, before any of the others could warn caution, he had slipped it into the hole in the door. For a long, horrible moment they all held their breath in anticipation. But nothing happened. Mathias frowned and pushed on the key as though shoving it harder into the groves would help. It did not. “Give me another one,” he said, not to be deterred so easily. Soon the first was pried out of the hole and he had snatched up another. This one was pressed in with equal determination and equal anticipation, but also showed no change. Mathias shoved on the key, rattled it around in the hole, pushed on the door. Nothing made any difference. The door remained firmly shut and locked. He tried the last one, now growing frustrated, but with no improvement in results.

“What in Hel,” Mathias growled, pushing his entire body weight against the door in an attempt to move it, but to no avail. “Son of a bitch. None of them work.”

“What do you mean none of them work?” Tino asked, and actually pushed between Mathias and Aleksander to see what was going on.

“I mean that none of them work!” Mathias exclaimed. “The fucking door is still locked!”

“We do still have one more key to find,” Aleksander pointed out. The legends had said four keys for the four peoples of the galaxy. They only had three.

Mathias stared at him in disbelief. But they had come this far and they had found what they were looking for. How could they be kept from it by some ancient piece of arts-and-crafts? “Maybe we can break it down,” he said slowly, turning his gaze back to the door. “Who needs keys anyway. It’s just wood, right? And no one’s going to mind. Swede, give me a hand.” 

Berwald felt like he had done more than his share of opening doors today, but he stepped forward anyway. He certainly was not going to let Mathias take full credit for getting them in if this worked. 

“I don’t think this is going to work,” Eiríkur commented.

That did not stop Mathias from trying. Both men applied their full strength to the door, but it did not as much as groan under their weight. “Alright,” Mathias grumbled in annoyance. “Time for drastic measures.” He reached for the axe that he had set aside while fumbling with the door and hefted it up onto his shoulder.

“Wait a minute,” Aleksander interrupted, stepping forward to stop Mathias before he could do something stupid. “Let’s not be hasty. I’m sure we can find the last key, and I’m sure it will open this door.”

Then a voice broke into their conversation, coming from the front door of the building. “You mean this?” Ivan asked, standing silhouetted against the outside light and holding up a small object in one hand. The five pirates turned around quickly, horrified that they had been caught off guard and surprised that the police had caught up to them so quickly. Ivan merely chuckled at their reactions. “How naïve to think you could simply run away now when we’ve followed you this far.”

“How did you find that?” Tino demanded. Even from this distance he could tell that it was the final key that they needed to open this door. There was no way Ivan and his crew could have created a fake, as far as he knew they had never seen the real thing.

“You must have a horrible radar system if you did not find it first after you got a head start on us again,” Ivan said. “It was really quite simple. But I suppose that’s to be expected with a ship like yours. I’m surprised the thing did not shake itself apart before getting to this planet.” Ivan laughed at what he obviously thought was a good joke, but no one else was laughing. “Well, it seems like you do not have any choice now. You cannot continue without making a deal with me. What will it be? Will you hand over the rest of the keys and I let you all leave? Or do we have to do this the hard way?”

“I say Tino shoots him in the head,” Mathias replied loud enough for the Russian to hear, “And we loot his dead body and then steal his ship on the way home.”

"I'm okay with this," Tino replied, and shifted his grip on the rifle in his hands, purposefully readying to shoot if he should need to.

"Now, now, let's not be hasty," Ivan said, and finally something more than smug superiority worked its way through his facade. He was concerned. Though it would be an understatement to say he thought poorly of pirates, Ivan knew Tino, and he knew his reputation as a marksman. "I'm sure we can work this out in a way that benefits everyone."

"What makes you think we want to do anything that would benefit you?" Mathias asked. "Your kind do nothing but try and kill us."

"I am merely doing my job," Ivan explained. "We all have to do unpleasant things sometimes. Surely you are not completely innocent yourselves?"

"No," Aleksander said, "But we don't pretend to be, either."

"Come," Ivan entreated, "There must be some way that we can look past our differences. I'm sure you don't want to see anyone get hurt."

"I think you're wrong," Tino commented. 

"So I take it you won't be taking up my offer, Tinoshka?" Ivan asked, looking to the Finn. "I never though you would be the type to chose a life like this."

"I didn't chose it," Tino told him. "But I like it a hell of a lot more than I ever liked working for you lot. You think you know me so well, so you should be able to understand that."

Ivan hummed thoughtfully. "Well, what if I say that I can get you all everything you've ever wanted," he said, stepping across the threshold and into the room with them. "I can make you rich, I can make you powerful. No more skulking in shadows and thieving. How does that sound?"

"How?" Mathias asked. It was a tempting offer, but who was this man to make such lofty promises. The outlaws had already made it abundantly clear that they wanted nothing to do with the government or the police or any law abiding organization. 

"I am under the impression that most of your kind are merely cargo vessels that work outside of regulation," Ivan commented. "I can get you a shipping license. And I will put forward no record of your previous illegal pursuits."

"If you're so well versed on outlaw behavior then you should know the reason we work outside of regulation," Mathias laughed. "It’s because of the regulations. I can make more selling one item of contraband than an entire shipment of legal materials. Or do you think we've never picked up that sort of job on the side?"

"Yes, I am aware, but that is hardly a reliable line of work is it? Wouldn't you much rather the security of steady work? Work that will not get you arrested?" Ivan asked.

"Sounds boring," Mathias replied with a shrug. "You'll have to do better than that."

Ivan sighed. "Well, I tried," he muttered, "But clearly you will not see reason. A pity. The service could use men like you. It looks like we are going to have to do this the hard way. This is quite regrettable." In a flash the man had with drawn a handgun from within his coat and pointed it at the men at the other end of the room. He was quite fast for a man his side, but just as quickly Tino had raised his rifle to his shoulder and was aiming it square at Ivan’s head. 

Tino could have shot him right then and there, but Tino did not like shooting people, even ones he hated as much as Ivan, so he waited. Waited until he was certain Ivan was a threat to them and not simply bluffing. What could one man do against all five of them, even if he managed to take down Tino first? Surely he had not come on his own.

“Are you going to shoot me, Tinoshka?” Ivan asked, and took a daring step forward; Tino held his ground. “No, I don’t think you are. You were always soft, despite your skill.” As he stepped forward into the room the female officer they had seen before came in after him. She was holding a pistol in each hand and aimed them both squarely at the group of outlaws. Now it was surely a standoff. Despite Tino’s impressive skills he doubted he was fast enough to shoot two people before either of them could shoot him. “Here is how this will work,” Ivan said. “In case the people of this planet were smart enough to put more than locked doors between us and their most prized possession, I want you lot to go in there first. I will throw you this key, and you will open the door. If you do not behave, Natalia will shoot Tino. Can I trust you in this?”

The others did not see that they had much choice, and now even Tino was frightened. He was outgunned. He was not used to this, and he did not like it. He knew Ivan, and he could try to predict his actions, but the woman was a stranger to him and a mystery. It made him wary. Berwald noticed this and he nudged Mathias, who looked over and merely nodded in reply. For now the best course was to play alone and hope that a moment in which they could get the upper hand would assert itself.

“Fine,” Mathias grumbled. Just because it was best to behave now did not mean he had to like it. “Give me the key then.”

“Good,” Ivan said with a sickeningly insincere smile. He held the key up for them to see, and then tossed it over to them Mathias tried to catch it but missed and the artifact clattered to the floor. Quickly, embarrassed, he picked it up again and dusted it off. “Go on, then,” the officer encouraged.

Despite his earlier eagerness to get inside, Mathias was slow to turn around and face the door again. He did not like having a gun, or three, pointed at his back, but they really had no choice except to go along with what the police wanted for now. For a moment he stared at the key in his hands, dusted it off on his pants, and then slid it into the hole.

When the key was fitted into the indentation in the wood Mathias stepped back. After three failures he was not eager for another, and yet his anticipation could not be higher. As it turned out, though, he did not need to do anything further. There was a faint glow from the gem in the middle of the artifact and then the sound of mechanisms working within or behind the door. Like gears turning and the click of a lock sliding out of place. With a groan the wooden door loosened from its frame and slid open of its own volition with little more than a creaking of hinges.

Again, Mathias and his crew crowded around the doorway to peer inside, but it was even darker than the room they were currently in. There were no windows where this door led and beyond what faint light crept in from the doorway it was pitch black.

"I hope you have brought a light," Ivan sneered from behind them. "It looks like you will need it."

"Of course we did," Mathias spat back, "Do we look that stupid to you?"

"Do you honestly want the answer to that?" Ivan chuckled.

"No," Aleksander answered quickly. As usual, Mathias had spoken without thinking. They all knew exactly what the officer thought of them.

"I've got a light," Eiríkur said, pulling an electric torch from inside his pack. He handed it over to Mathias with an unspoken understanding that he would be going first into the depths of this structure.

"So do I," Tino said, and from within his oversized jacket brought out another. This he clipped to the top of his rifle. Hopefully the two would be enough to light the dark passage before them.

"Have fun," Ivan said, and laughed again. "I will follow after you have cleared any traps our predecessors left for us."

"After we've cleared them by dying, he means," Tino muttered as he turned toward the doorway and lifted his rifle to his shoulder. The beam from the light mounted atop it cut in to the darkness, but it revealed nothing.

“This is what we wanted anyway,” Aleksander said. “We can deal with the police later.”

“Agreed,” Mathias said. They had come all this way. One dark hallway was no going to stop them, and neither were the police on their backs. The light from Mathias' torch did little to eliminate the pressing blackness that surrounded them so he proceeded cautiously despite the desire to rush forward. Their goal was so close he could taste it. Everything they had ever wanted, what they had worked for for months now was almost within their grasp. He wanted to rush forward with the reckless abandon that he was known for, but Ivan was right to suspect traps. The Aesir had already gone to elaborate efforts just to keep them from opening this door, it made sense that they would make it as difficult as possible for anyone to get in. Booby traps were a definite possibility.

The air within the corridor was dank and stale, thick with dust and the smell of mildew. Mathias' footsteps were heavy in the silence that surrounded him as he moved forward with bated breath. Tino followed closely behind, offering slightly more light and a measure of moral support. The others trailed behind, hovering at the doorway for as long as possible before following them inside; no one quite trusted the police not to lock them inside.

After several minutes of walking, moving at a snail's pace, Mathias realized that the passage was leading them downward, and that it was slightly curved. They were going underground. Under the structure they had entered from. The lower they went the darker and danker it became; the floor transitioned from wood to stone that was slick and damp. The abrupt change startled Mathias and he stumbled, nearly loosing his footing. When he regained it he realized that he had emerged into a room. A cavern, truly, carved out beneath the structure on the surface. A sweep of his light told him that it was also about the same size as the room above, but completely barren. 

"The hell is this?" Tino asked from behind him as he too stepped into the room. He still held the rifle up to his shoulder and looked along the barrel as he looked as best he could at their surroundings. 

"I don't know," Mathias said. For a long moment he thought they had come to a dead end, and he was incredibly confused. "Aleksander get up here!" he called back over his shoulder. There was the quick sound of footsteps behind them and then Aleksander stepped into the circle of light cast around Mathias and Tino, shortly followed by the other two. "We need your computer. Can you tell where we are?" Mathias asked. 

“Underneath where we were,” Aleksander answered dryly as he took the scanner out of his bag again.

“I know that,” Mathias griped.

“That’s all I can tell from this as well,” Aleksander said after he fiddled with the controls for a little while. “Can’t whatever these rocks are, they’re blocking all the sensors. Can’t see anything outside this room, except the way we came.”

Mathias cursed and swept his light around the room to try and get a better look at their surroundings. Bit by bit the walls were revealed, all the same bare stone as the floor and ceiling. Then Mathais spotted the door. It was the same as the one upstairs, or at least appeared to be. The captain was quick to go for a closer investigation. Indeed, it was made out of the same wood as the door upstairs, with similar carvings. Mathias ran his hand over them curiously, but was still unable to understand what they meant. Maybe they were just decoration, but somehow he doubted it. One last time he swept his light around the room, looking for anything else they might have missed, but there was nothing. This cavernous room was completely empty save the single door.

“No way to go but forward,” Mathias said with resignation. “Unless you fancy a gunfight. How many do you have, Tino? Could we take them?”

“I doubt it,” Tino replied. He had two pistols that he trusted the others to use, but doubted spreading out their firepower would give them any advantage, though it would make their chances less dire. “They’ve got pulse guns out there. Not as accurate as projectiles, but they don’t run out of ammo. Looks like a new model, too. Probably more powerful or more efficient than what we’re used to. Couldn’t say for sure, though.”

“Damn,” Mathias muttered. They would have to come up with a plan that involved more than shooting their way out, but now was not the time for that. “Onward it is, then.” He stepped up to the door and pulled the keys from his pocket. As far as he could tell, this door looked exactly the same as the first. The same engravings, the same material, and the same diamond indentation in the center. The captain picked one of the keys at random and slid it into place. The door groaned and creaked, unlocking by whatever unseen mechanism kept it sealed. Then the thing opened with the sound of gas releasing from a long-sealed container. Immediately heat rushed out through the opening and the sudden change in temperature hit Mathias in the face like a splash of boiling water.

“Son of a bitch!” the man swore and leapt back. “Must be a thousand degrees in there.”

The room on the other side of the door was also brightly lit. So bright that for a moment they were all blinded. When their eyes finally adjusted Aleksander stepped forward cautiously. “I’m reading forty-two centigrade,” he corrected.

“Too damn hot,” Mathias concluded. “How the hell is it that hot in there? I didn’t feel anything through the door.”

“Aesir technology,” Eiríkur guessed.

Tino turned off the light on his gun and also crept cautiously toward the door to look inside. “It’s the same flame as outside,” he said, squinting into the brightly lit room. And he was correct. The walls were lined with torches that all burned pure white.

“How?” Mathias asked.

This time no one offered any scientific explanation. This far underground the torches should have long ago run out of fuel or oxygen to burn, yet the flames were still going strong. Cautiously, Tino stepped even closer to the threshold, his gun held loosely but ready should he need it. After the initial shock of the heat and light within the room wore off he was able to take stock of the rest of the décor. The walls were gilt golden and polished bright which only intensified the light of the white flames. He supposed it helped intensify the heat as well. Down the center of the room stood two rows of pedestals in varying sizes all decorated with carvings of the same style they had seen throughout the structure. Each pedestal was topped with an indentation, stand, or holder of some sort, but all were empty.

“It’s fucking empty,” Mathias said, not impressed. If anything, he was becoming more and more frustrated the further they went. If they came all this way for nothing he was going to be very angry.

“There’s another door at the end,” Eiríkur said, pointing to the far end of the hall. 

“I guess we continue onward, then,” Tino said with a shrug.

“I guess so,” Mathias agreed, and strode past him toward the next door. The empty rooms were disheartening, but he would not give up yet. Not until they had reached wherever this strange collection of rooms lead. They passed through the brightly lit and decidedly overheated room and stopped before the door at the other end. There were two keys that had yet to be used, and Mathias pressed one, and then the other into the door before it opened in the same fashion as the previous two, but lead to another empty passageway.

"This is really starting to piss me off," Mathias muttered, and stuffed the keys back into his pocket as he stalked into the corridor. To come all this way and so far have nothing to show for it was frustrating to no end. And now they were being lead on what felt like a wild goose chase. Apparently it had been too much to assume it would be easy once they finally found the vault. Nothing ever went easily for them. 

The five men continued down the darkening corridor, following after their captain as he strode heedlessly into the growing darkness as the light from the last room faded away behind them. This passage seemed to continue straight, not taking them downward, but simply leading them further away from the entrance. They continued along it for what felt like ages until Tino spotted a light ahead of them. "I see something up there," the gunman said, pointing ahead of them even though it could not be seen in the dark. Neither he nor Mathias had had the will to turn on their lights again.

"Where? I don't see anything," Mathias complained, squinting into the darkness.

"It's there, straight ahead of us," Tino assured him. "Just keep going." And they did not have much choice, so they did, and eventually the light grew so that the others could see it as well. It was faint still, dim, but there was clearly some source of light ahead of them. Mathias quickened his steps, going faster and faster until he was running with the others chasing behind. The light grew larger and larger, but not brighter, until they came skidding to a stop in another room. It was plain rock again, just like the first, and the light, they now saw, came from a hole in the ceiling. All of these passageways and chambers had apparently been carved straight into the rock beneath the city, and here the ceiling had been vaulted so high it became weak with time. Several holes had opened, letting in daylight. Aleksander was surprised it was still daylight outside, it felt as though they had been down here long enough for night to have fallen, but it was difficult to keep track of time in this closed off environment, even harder than on a space ship. 

The room here was small, much smaller than the others, barely large enough to fit all five of them inside, despite the high ceiling. In front of them stood another of those accursed doors. Mathias was beginning to get quite annoyed with these contraptions. This one was different, though. The engravings here were different; they showed pictures of what appeared to be men building something. Across the top there were carved symbols like letters, but none of them recognized the language at all. In the front of the door not one, but four indentations were carved in the shape of the keys.

"This has to be the end," Eiríkur said. He was tired of walking, as were they all, and eager to reach the end of this quest. It had not turned out nearly as glamorous as he had expected. 

“It better be,” Mathias muttered. All of them were getting frustrated by now, and an unspoken fear hung over the group. Up to now there had been nothing worth finding, the vaults were emptied. Would that stay true for this room as well? Would they find nothing at all beyond this door?

Mathias fit the keys into the indentations on the door while the others waited with bated breath. It creaked open, scraping against the floor, then stopped after opening only a few inches. Mathias groaned in annoyance. It was broken. “Great,” he muttered.

But Tino gave a sigh of relief. “I’m glad something down here is malfunctioning,” he commented. “I was beginning to think this place wasn’t actually abandoned.”

“Thought you believed in magic,” Mathias teased as he began to push at the door.

“I’m not stupid,” Tino complained. “I know there’s no such thing, but it’s so perfect down here it’s hard to believe this all kept working on its own while everything around it fell apart.”

“Obviously they built this to last,” Aleksander said. “Mathias what is taking so long? Have you forgotten how to open doors now?”

Mathias was indeed still pushing against the door, but it had moved no more than a fraction of an inch. “It’s stuck on something,” The captain said, “Swede, come help me.”

Berwald gave a long suffering sigh and stepped up to put his body weight against the door along with Mathias’. But whatever the door was stuck on was strong. Both men leaned and pushed upon it together, and for a long while the door did not budge. Then, all of a sudden it gave way. With a snap, whatever had been holding it back broke and the door swung freely inward. It happened so suddenly that both Mathias and Berwald stumbled forward and fell into the room. Immediately the others came to look in through the doorway.

The room beyond was cavernous in every sense of the world, a natural cave in the planet’s crust, the roof of which vaulted high above their heads. The floor was rough, dotted with stalagmites and columns of natural stone. A path ran down from the doorway, winding between the stone formations and down into the depths of the cavern. The path was slick and wet, but as soon as he got back to his feet Mathias was following it. The tension was nearly palpable as the crew anticipated what they would find and silently prayed that they would not face another disappointment. Single file they went carefully between the stalagmites and dripping water. Then before them a shaft of light broke through the ceiling, plunging down into the dark cavern and lighting a flat area at the bottom of the path. Water had collected there over the years, forming a wide pool around a pedestal like those they had seen in the gilded chamber. And like the other pedestals it was empty.

“No,” Mathias breathed in disbelief. He leaped forward, stepping heedlessly into the water, and splashed toward the pedestal.

“Careful!” Aleksander shouted after him. “You don’t know how deep that is!”

Luckily the water was only ankle deep, but none of the others followed him. Mathias stopped at the pedestal and stared at it. Then walked around it. Then ran his hands over it in search of some hidden secret. “There’s nothing here!” he exclaimed finally. “There’s nothing fucking here!”

“Calm down,” Aleksander beseeched from the edge of the water.

“I am calm!” Mathias snapped, and kicked the pedestal in his anger. 

“Mathias,” Berwald attempted, and took a step forward into the water. “Getting’ angry’s not gonna change anything.”

“Okay, I’m not calm,” Mathias admitted, “But I can’t calm down! We came all this way, we worked so damn hard! You almost died! And for what? For nothing! We’ve got nothing to show for it except a giant waste of time! You know what would have been worth our time? Going for that… That wormhole thing, whatever. Like we originally planned. I should have known that chasing after treasure was a bad idea! Why the fuck did I let you guys talk me into this?” Mathias ranted furiously. He threw his hands up in the air, gesticulated wildly with the axe in his hand and paced around the empty pedestal in the center of the cavern. Immediately Berwald stepped back again to be out of the range of the captain’s weapon.

“We’re all angry,” Berwald said, “S’not your fault I got hurt, and it’s not your fault there’s nothing here! We all wanted to come here.”

“He’s right,” Tino cut in. “This is what we do; go after hopeless causes.”

“But now we’re stuck here!” Mathias argued. “We’ve come all this way with nothing to show for it! And now, outside, there are two police waiting out there who would be more than happy to shoot us on sight. The only reason they haven’t is because they expect us to come out of here with some priceless treasure. What are they going to do when we show up empty handed? They probably won’t want to negotiate. Shoot on sight most likely.”

“And I’ll shoot them back!” Tino said confidently.

“No offense, Tino, but they seem to have you outgunned. Never thought I’d see the day,” the captain grumbled.

And Tino was forced to admit that he was right. “What do we do, then?” the gunman asked. “Stay here until we die of old age? There’s no other way out of here.”

Mathias frowned and looked around, but Tino was right. There was no way out of the cavern except through the door and back the way they had come. They had to go back and face the police eventually. “You don’t think they’ll just let us go if they say we didn’t find anything,” Mathias protested.

“No,” Tino agreed. “But unless you want a shootout that could get us all killed we have to try something.”

“I agree with Tino,” Eiríkur said, “We should try to convince them we didn’t find anything. What are the odds they’ll shoot us on sight?”

“Too high for my comfort,” Mathias muttered.

“But higher than our odds of survival if we stay here and try to wait them out,” Aleksander argued.

Mathias sighed in defeat. “What’s the use of being captain if no one listens to me?” he asked.

“It took you this long to realize no one listens to you?” Aleksander asked with no surprise whatsoever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long chapter to make up for a long hiatus. I was busy with NaNoWriMo and my final thesis project for school, so fic writing had to fall by the wayside for a while.
> 
> Only one or two more chapters after this if all goes according to plan.


	21. Hostile Negotiations

Mathias searched the entire chamber, high and low, for another exit. There was none. Not even a natural passageway through the cave system. “Who builds a secret underground room with only one way out?” he muttered angrily.

“Easier to hide,” Aleksander pointed out.

“Easier to guard,” Tino added.

“You’re not helping,” Mathias snapped. He was still upset about the chamber being empty. The others knew it was best to let him just work through it; wait until he was calm again before trying to come up with a plan. It was taking longer than usual, though. Searching for a second exit and being similarly denied any reward for his efforts did nothing to improve the captain’s mood, but he was slowly becoming more reasonable. He had stopped swinging the axe around so carelessly, and now that his secondary search was over Mathias sat down on a broken stalagmite to fume silently.

“Gotta figure out what to do ‘bout the police,” Berwald began cautiously, testing the waters of Mathias’ temper.

“Go out with guns blazing,” Mathias grumbled.

“I’d rather survive this,” Eiríkur replied.

“We have to try and negotiate,” Aleksander said.

“That’s all you ever want to do,” Mathias said. “No fun.”

“Sorry I don’t enjoy getting shot at,” Aleksander droned sarcastically. 

Mathias gave up and sighed deeply, “Fine, have it your way. No one ever listens to me anyway.”

Aleksander shared a look with Berwald. Their captain’s anger had turned to depression, a much more uncommon emotion for Mathias and one they were not so used to dealing with. Berwald did not speak much, and certainly matters of the heart were not his strongest suit when it came to talking, but he had known Mathias longer than any of the others, and knew better what made him tick. 

“Mathias,” Berwald began slowly, choosing his words carefully. “We’re not empty handed.”

Mathias looked over at him with an expression of pure incredulity. “Oh, sorry, I forgot about your new fuck toy,” he grumbled, and ignored Tino’s offended shout of protest.

“No,” Berwald replied stiffly, equally offended but fighting to keep his temper in check. “Got plenty of stuff to sell.”

“Like what?” Mathias snapped.

“The keys,” Berwald said, “And the coordinates t’ this planet. Sure someone else’ll be stupid enough t’ come here.” That made Mathias pause. It was true they were the only ones who knew how to get here. Berwald took the moment of silence as a chance to continue. “Might also get that police ship; sell it for plans and parts.” That would be much easier to sell, but much harder to get their hands on.

“It’s not the fame and fortune we hoped for,” Aleksander broke in, “But it’s still more than we started with; enough for us to live pretty posh for a while.”

Mathias was thinking. Berwald could practically see the gears turning in his head. He was weighing their options, figuring out whether the potential gain was worth the effort. “So our plan is back to guns blazing?” he asked.

“No,” Aleksander said. “We still need to negotiate.”

“Even the police aren’t stupid enough to negotiate away their ship,” Mathias pointed out.

“We don’t need them to,” Aleksander replied, “We only need to negotiate our way out of this building. Then we can fight them on equal footing.”

\----------

The group took a short moment to gather their senses in the stone chamber. Mathias hunched over, sitting on large stone with his head in his hands and claimed fatigue, but anyone could tell he was deep in thought. About what, none of them were certain. Tino could not sit still and shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting with his guns while Berwald hovered nearby. Finally, Mathias stood up again, hopping to his feet and declaring “Right, let’s go!” as though they weren’t potentially going to their deaths. None of the others were easily swayed by this performance, but followed as he strode out of the cavern.

Mathias lead the way confidently, the others trailing behind through the passageways with varying degrees of apprehension. If Mathias felt the same he did a good job of hiding it.

At last they ascended back to the surface and stepped back out into the dim lighting of the external structure of the temple. By the outer door Ivan was lounging on a bench, his female officer stood nearby, rigid and on alert. She stood up even straighter when she saw the outlaws returning, quickly alerting her commander to their presence.

“Well well,” Ivan smiled as he sat up and then rose to his feet. “Back so soon? Where’s my prize?” His eyes ran over the five men before him and when he did not see any difference in them the smile left his face.

“There’s nothing there,” Aleksander informed him.

“What do you mean?” Ivan’s frown deepened.

“Are you deaf?” Mathias replied, “He said there’s nothing there. No treasure. The place is empty.”

Ivan chuckled softly and gestured toward the woman at his side. She raised a pistol and pointed it toward the outlaws. “Nice try,” Ivan said, “Now tell the truth.” Tino raised his own rifle to his shoulder in retaliation, but he was not certain his reflexes could match the woman’s.

“That is the truth,” Aleksander protested, “I swear.”

“Do you really expect me to take the word of a pirate?” Ivan asked. 

“Tino,” Mathias said sharply. That was all the invitation that the gunman needed. He pulled the trigger, the gun fired, and a bullet went zipping past Ivan’s ear so close that it ruffled his hair before it embedded into the wall beyond.

“You missed,” Ivan observed.

“I don’t miss,” Tino informed him. “I’m sure you’re well aware of that. The next one goes in your skull.”

Ivan’s brow furrowed for a moment, but that was the only sign that he was affected by this threat at all. “Natalia,” he said, and the woman at his side suddenly tensed, more alert and ready to react in an instant. “The next time that Tino tries to shoot me, kill the young one.”

All eyes turned immediately to Eiríkur, who froze on the spot in terror. Aleksander grabbed his brother and immediately pulled Eiríkur behind himself protectively. “He’s just a kid,” he protested immediately. 

“That is not my problem,” Ivan said flatly. “You should have thought about that before you recruited him to the life of an outlaw. That is not very responsible of you.”

Aleksander seethed silently and grit his teeth to keep from saying anything. Nothing he could say would make the situation any better, but he was furious. He had done his damnedest to do what was best for his little brother, to take care of him and to keep him safe. No pampered military officer was going to belittle everything that he had done and everything that he had sacrificed in order to make Eiríkur happy. “Calm down, Aleks,” Mathias said softly, laying a hand on the pilot’s shoulder. “Tino, stand down.”

Tino was reluctant to do so, however, and he looked back at Mathias for confirmation. A curt nod was all he got, and Tino slowly lowered the rifle from his shoulder.

“Good,” Ivan hummed with satisfaction. “Now perhaps we can talk like civilized people.”

“We tried that already,” Mathias bit out. “You didn’t seem very keen on the idea.”

“I generally prefer to have the upper hand,” Ivan informed them. “Now, you claim that you found nothing within the vaults bellow this building. I find this difficult to believe.”

“You’d better learn, then,” Mathias said, “Because there’s nothing there. And killing us isn’t going to change that.”

“Why don’t you go look for yourself?” Tino suggested.

“And risk being trapped in there by you? Unlikely,” Ivan scoffed.

“What do we have to do to make you believe us?” Aleksander asked, still standing protectively in front of his brother.

“There is nothing you can do,” Ivan said, “I simply do not believe you, and it is unlikely that I ever will. The odds of there being nothing on this planet, which has remained untouched since its people went extinct, are extremely slim.”

“So are we just going to stand here until we all die of old age?” Mathias asked, rolling his eyes. “This is so stupid. There is nothing in the damn vaults. Whatever happened to the people here, they cleared out all their stuff beforehand.” 

“It must be here somewhere,” Ivan reasoned. “And none of you are leaving until I have it.”

“What do you expect us to do? Search the whole planet?” Mathias asked in disbelief. 

“If that is what it takes,” Ivan replied.

“That’s ridiculous!” Tino protested, “You can’t do that to us!”

“Can’t I?” Ivan asked. “You are all under arrest at current. I see no reason why this planet is any different from a prison colony.”

“We haven’t been tried,” Tino argued, “You can’t keep us detained without a trail. It’s against the law.”

“I don’t believe the law applies to this part of the galaxy,” Ivan said thoughtfully. “The government has not established jurisdiction over this quadrant.”

“Then you can’t arrest us, either,” Aleksander protested.

“On the contrary,” Ivan smiled. “I can do whatever I want.”

“But we certainly don’t have to go along quietly,” Mathias replied.

“I never expected as much. But I know you do not want a fight, and neither do I. I always hoped we could sort things out peacefully, like civilized people,” Ivan informed them. “Which is why I have given you the chance to hand over the technology you have found.”

“We told you we didn’t find anything,” Mathias protested with annoyance. 

“I am not surprised you don’t wish to hand it over. But by now I am sure you’re aware of how outmatched you are,” Ivan said, “It would be foolish to attempt a fight. However, I understand your hesitance to hand over what you have found. So, I will give you time to think it over.”

“You’re going to let us leave?” Tino asked skeptically, but hopefully.

“No, of course not. We are going to stay here until you are ready to hand over any and all technology or artifacts that you located beneath this building,” Ivan stated. “You may take as long as you need to consider your options, but know that if you attempt to leave, I will kill you.” With that said, Ivan sat back down on the bench he had been occupying before and folded his hands in his lap. “Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves. Decide what you will do. Give me what I want, or die?”

The pirates did not consider either of those an acceptable, or even possible, option. But of course, they needed the time to make a new plan, seeing how negotiation had failed rather spectacularly, and Mathias was quick to take advantage of any stall tactic, even one offered by their enemy. He quickly drew his crew to the side of the room and sat them down amidst the ruins to consider their options and decide which was least likely to get them all killed.

“Looks like we have ourselves an old fashioned standoff,” Mathias muttered. “How do we fix it?”

“He’s never going to believe the vaults are empty,” Tino said, “Ivan’s used to getting what he wants and he doesn’t like to be told he’s wrong.”

“So he’s delusional,” Aleksander concluded.

“Yes,” Tino confirmed.

“Do you know the woman?” Mathias asked.

“No,” Tino said regretfully. “But if she’s anything like him she’ll follow any orders she’s given whether they’re right or not.”

“Fantastic,” Mathias sighed.

“Think we should try to fight ‘em?” Berwald asked. Usually he was happy to let the others hash out the plan and sit by quietly, but this situation was looking dire.

“I don’t know,” Tino admitted, “If I knew more about that woman I could probably come up with something. I don’t know if I can shoot both of them before they shoot us.”

“How big is the risk, do you think?” Aleksander asked.

“Too big, maybe,” Tino said thoughtfully. “She’s a sniper, I can tell from her uniform. It’s unlikely she’ll miss if she fires on us.”

“So it’s possible one of us will die if we try to fight our way out,” Mathias concluded. “Can we wait them out? How long before he gets tired of just sitting here?”

“Ivan’s impatient,” Tino said. “Or he was when I knew him. Now I’m not so sure. He’s been following us for months now just outside of sensor range. That takes patience. He’s also got at least two other crew members back at the ship. Minimum crew is four for a patrol ship like that one. Captain, First Mate, Pilot, and Tactical Officer. So these two have backup if they need it. We don’t.”

“So our options are risk our lives, or wait around until he gets bored,” Mathias said thoughtfully. “At which point he might just kill us anyway. I think the only reason he hasn’t yet is because he wants to take us back as some sort of trophy.”

“Probably,” Tino agreed.

Mathias fell silent in thought, trying to think of a way they could get out of this. He looked back at their enemies. Ivan was sitting pretty on one of the benches by the outer door. The woman was not far from his side and she was staring at them. For an instant her eyes met Mathias’, but he looked away quickly, feeling suddenly like hiding. Then an idea struck him. ‘Tino,” he said lowly, “Do you think these benches could be enough to block her guns?”

Tino frowned and looked down at the bench he was sitting on. He knocked on it curiously and bent over to see how thick it was. The wood was old and brittle; his own bullets would shatter it. But pulse guns did not have as much penetrative force. They were designed specifically for use in space, where a shot gone wild had the potential to cause a hull breach and kill everyone in the vicinity. “I think so,” he said tentatively. “But only one or two shots.”

“One shot is all we need,” Mathias was beginning to smile again.

“Why? What are you planning?” Tino asked curiously.

“We hide,” Berwald answered for him, having just figured it out for himself. For a group who did all their fighting in the vast openness of space the idea of hiding had never occurred to them. 

“Exactly,” Mathias confirmed. “Use the benches as cover while you take them out.”

Tino’s eyes went wide. “That could work.”

It was all Mathias could do to keep from showing how excited he was to have a viable plan. “Let’s do it then. Act casual, don’t want them to get suspicious,” he said, and slid from his seat down onto the floor. A moment later Tino got up and went to join Berwald by the wall, attempting to use the larger man to hide his hands as he took out his pistols. As casually as possible, Mathias tilted the bench he had been sitting on onto its side. As he did so he chanced a glance toward the woman. She looked more alert than before, but she was not pointing any weapons at them, so Mathias thought they were safe for now.

Over the next few minutes the crew built themselves a loosely arranged barricade. “Whenever you’re ready, Tino,” Mathias said when everything was in place. “Everyone keep your heads down.”

Tino climbed over Berwald’s legs to get into position while the others took cover as best they could. By now the police had figured out that something was going on, but they could not figure out what. Tino still hoped to catch them off guard. “Ready?” Tino asked, his voice barely above a whisper. When he received nods from the rest of them, and there really was not much they could do except duck and cover, Tino readied his guns and peeked over the top of the bench. Ivan had risen to his feet, watching them suspiciously. Tino was not surprised, as subtle as they tried to be, it was hard to deny that they were being suspicious. Suddenly hiding behind a bunch of upturned benches was not normal behavior. He only hoped that Ivan had not caught onto them yet.

He really did not want to kill either of them, but he knew that it might come to that. A bullet in each of the woman’s shoulders would put her out of commission, and Ivan, well Tino was tempted to shoot him in the head, but decided on the chest instead. He would survive that if he got medical attention soon enough. Tino ducked back bellow the bench for a moment and took a deep breath to calm and steady himself, then he was up in a flash, both guns pointed at the woman – the bigger threat here by far – and he pulled both triggers simultaneously. She raised her guns the moment she saw his, but did not have enough time to react before the bullets both struck home, one in her shoulder, the other in her upper arm. She fired her weapons, but the shots went wide as she went stumbling back. One struck the wall behind them and the other the bench that Eiríkur was hiding behind, the wood cracked and splintered in the sudden heat of the energy burst, splitting the bench in half and rendering it useless. Ivan had his gun out and was aiming it, Tino aimed both of his toward the police captain. They fired at the exact same moment. Ivan stumbled backward and then crumpled to the floor. Behind him Tino heard a sudden cry of pain, a thud, and then a scream.

“Eiríkur!”


	22. Medicine

“Eiríkur!” 

Tino did not wait to see if his shots had done lasting damage. As soon as he heard Aleksander’s pained scream he dropped below the bench he was using for cover and spun around to see what had happened. Eiríkur was lying on the floor, Aleksander had just reached his side, the others were also moving quickly to see what had happened. From the looks of things Eiríkur had attempted to find better covered after the bench he had been huddling behind was destroyed. He had been out in the open for only a moment, but Ivan’s shot had hit him. 

“What happened? Is he okay?” Tino asked, rushing to his side as well.

No one answered because no one yet knew the answer. Aleksander kept repeating his brother’s name desperately as he picked him up and cradled him in his arms. Eiríkur’s left arm and shoulder had taken the brunt of the blast. His clothing had been singed away and the skin beneath badly burned. The teen was unconscious, pale except for the angry red and black scorches up the side of his body.

“Is he…?” Tino asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

Mathias crept closer to the pair of brothers and held his fingers up to Eiríkur’s throat. “No,” he replied after a tense moment, much to everyone’s relief. “But we need to get him back to the ship. He needs medical attention.”

Just as he finished speaking there was another gunshot. The pulse slammed into the bench they were hiding behind. Aleksander gasped and held his brother tighter. 

“I thought you got ‘em, Tino,” Berwald said, already reaching for more objects to shelter them with.

“I did!” Tino said defensively. He turned back around and peeked over the top of their makeshift shelter. He had taken down both of the police officers and there was no one else in the building. Then he noticed the woman. She still lay on the floor, and she was bleeding badly, but had managed to grab one of her guns again and point it toward them. Tino ducked back behind his cover and cursed as he reloaded his rifle with swift, practiced fingers. The woman fired another shot, but it went wide, though not by much. She was injured enough to impair her aiming, but she was obviously a good marksman, perhaps even a match for Tino. Had they been on friendlier terms he might have challenged her to a contest. But that was not the case here. They were enemies and Tino was determined to defeat them. Rifle reloaded, Tino balanced the barrel on the splintered wood that separated him from their attackers. He watched as the woman waited for her guns to recharge and attempted to push herself up off the floor. 

A squeeze of the trigger and Tino felt the butt of the rifle kick back against his shoulder just as the crack of the gun firing filled his ears. His brain said to duck back behind his meager shelter, but his ego would not let him. He had missed his shot before, and Tino prided himself on almost never missing a shot. He had to redeem himself. With a sense of morbid pride and triumph he watched the bullet pierce through the woman’s neck. She collapsed to the floor immediately, not dead, but bleeding profusely and gagging. She would drown in her own blood before she could bleed out.

“It’s clear,” Tino said flatly, and rose to his feet. “Let’s go.”

Berwald held Eiríkur as tightly as he dared as they rushed back through the city. The teen still had not woken or even stirred since his injury. It was not a good sign. Aleksander hovered close to Berwald, looking over at his brother as frequently as possible while also watching his footing on the uneven ground. But he did still stumble a few times, his attention obviously far more focused on Eiríkur than their surroundings. 

It seemed to take far too long to reach the gates again, though they were going straight there this time and not taking any diversions as they had on the way to the temple. But finally they reached the outer wall of the city and passed through the gates. The plains between the city and the Hofvar were empty, but as they drew closer the crew grew nervous and more alert of their surroundings. There was at least one more person aboard the police ship that was possibly on the lookout for them. So they snuck by as quickly as they had that morning and slunk up to the hatch before slipping into the ship. If they had been noticed there was no sign of it yet.

Berwald took Eiríkur to the cabin the brothers shared and set him down on the lower bunk of the bed. Immediately Aleksander was pushing him aside to get to his brother and attempting to get Eiríkur to wake up. Berwald was quick to step away, but hovered by the door, unsure what to do now.

Aleksander was still repeating his brother’s name over and over and over, touching his face and nudging him in an attempt to wake him, but Eiríkur remained asleep and unmoving. 

“Berwald, go get whatever medical supplies we have. Tino, get cold water and towels,” Mathias ordered quickly, watching the brothers from the doorway. They did not have much left after treating Berwald’s burns, but there had to be something they could use. The pair nodded and immediately ran off to do what they were told. Then Mathias slowly crossed over to Aleksander’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Aleks… It’s going to be okay.”

“He won’t wake up,” Aleksander breathed, and tore his gaze away from his brother to look up at the other man. His eyes showed the most emotion that Mathias had ever seen in them, but it was all terror and worry, not the emotions that Mathias had hoped to see there someday.

“Let’s get his shirt off,” Mathias said, and knelt down beside the bed to help.

\----------

After bringing the supplies Tino and Berwald were banished from the brothers’ cabin, and there was not really enough space for all of them in there anyway, so Tino understood. He was incredibly worried, though. Eiríkur was not doing well, but pulse gun wounds could be recovered from if they were treated properly. Berwald had survived his potentially life threatening injury, so Tino was confident that Eiríkur could as well, provided they could get him proper treatment. Rather than hover around the door forever Tino went into the galley and sat down on he sofa with a heavy sigh.

“You okay?” Berwald asked.

Tino glanced up at him and offered Berwald a weak smile. “I’m still worried,” he replied, “It’s really bad, but it seems like he’s going to make it, right? I mean… he won’t die, at least.”

Berwald nodded, but that was not what he had been asking about. “Meant earlier, with the police,” he clarified.

“Oh, that,” Tino murmured, and looked down at his lap. He should have expected that question from good-hearted Berwald who was nothing but good intentions. “You’ve never seen me kill anyone before…” Injure, yes, and shoot down ships, but that was different, impersonal. Not like this. “I’m a soldier, I’ve done it before.” He wondered if this would make Berwald think differently about him. “I don’t enjoy it, but it’s the only thing I’m good for. It doesn’t bother me anymore.” He did not look up, though he was not sure what he was scared of. Berwald would not be in this line of work if that sort of thing bothered him. Although, they had not done much killing since Tino had joined them, so they were not stereotypical outlaws. “I mean, I’d rather not kill anyone, but sometimes there’s no choice. They definitely would have killed us, and even though I shot first it’s not as though they were going to let us out of there any other way.”

Realizing he was rambling, Tino shut up and forced himself to look up at Berwald to gauge his reaction. The engineer had not said a word, and his expression was as unreadable as always. “S’okay,” Berwald said when he realized Tino had stopped talking. “I know it was necessary. Just wasn’t sure if y’were okay with it.”

“Oh,” Tino said, suddenly feeling both relieved and slightly embarrassed by his outburst. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t think about it.”

Berwald nodded slowly. “Good.”

Tino fell silent after that. He was relieved that Berwald did not seem upset after seeing that side of him, but he still wished it was something the engineer never had to see. In all his time with this crew he had never actually had to kill anyone before, which was a strange realization. Before becoming an outlaw himself Tino had thought that pirates killed people all the time. Almost all of his preconceived ideas about piracy had been changed drastically since then. However, he was too concerned about Eiríkur’s condition to be overly happy about any of that. So he just sat in silence, worrying and taking only a minimum of comfort from Berwald’s silent presence at his side.

After a long moment Mathias emerged from the brothers’ cabin and came back to the galley to join them. He looked exhausted, which was unusual for the usually energetic and optimistic captain.

“Aleks won’t leave his side,” Mathias sighed and flopped down in his usual seat. “So I don’t know how he expects us to get him anywhere he can get proper help.”

As far as Tino knew the brothers were the only ones who knew how to fly. Maybe Berwald could do it, though; he knew the most about how the ship worked. Tino certainly could not, he had barely passed basic flight training in the military, and this old-model ship with its jerry rigged parts was far too complicated. Then something occurred to him. “What about the police ship?” Tino asked.

“What about it?” Mathias replied.

“There’s only one or two other crew members left, three tops,” Tino explained “Somehow they don’t seem to have noticed us yet, so we might be able to catch them by surprise.”

“And do what?” Mathias asked.

“Steal it?” Tino suggested. “Raid it for medical supplies?”

Mathias sat up suddenly. “They’ve always got medics on these government ships, right?”

“Yes,” Tino confirmed. “It’s required.”

“Get your guns,” Mathias said as he stood up again. “We’ve got a ship to invade.”

\----------

Tino did not understand how they had not been noticed yet. The police ship should have had someone on look out, or sensors set up at the very least. Were they that confident their commander would take the outlaws down? Or were they just waiting for the crew to try something as stupid as this. And this was incredibly stupid.

From behind the Hófvar’s landing gear Tino watched as Mathias dashed across the rocky plain to hide in the shadow of the other ship. Still no signs of life from within, so Berwald headed after him. Only when he saw that they were both safe did Tino run to join them.

The hatch was just above their heads and Mathias reached up to pull on the handle. Locked. The captain stepped back and Tino sent three bullets into it, effectively destroying the mechanism. Of course the rest of the police were bound to hear that and would now be on alert, but it could not be avoided. They did not have the time for Berwald to try and disarm it. Mathias grabbed the handle again and pulled with all his strength until finally the hatch broke away from the hull of the ship and swung down to meet the ground, revealing a set of stairs leading up to the airlock.

This time Tino took the lead, quickly mounting the stairs and stepping into the ship with pistol held in front of him. The airlock opened easily now that the outer door was open and after checking up and down the corridor Tino stepped out.

The corridor was empty, and Tino could hear no alarm, but surely one had been set off by now. Silent, perhaps. Cautiously he waved for the others to follow and began making his way toward the front, where he assumed the bridge to be. The ship, just as polished and new on the inside as it was on the outside, was eerily quiet. Too quiet. 

“Stay here,” Tino instructed in a whisper. “I’m going to scout ahead. I’ll be back in a minute.” He did not so much as glance over his shoulder at the others before heading off down the hall, moving as quickly and quietly as possible. Something felt very wrong, and he wanted to check everything out before he risked bringing the others into a situation that was quite possibly beyond their skill to handle. The rest of the crew had no military training, and they had never faced anyone with more than a minimum of it, either. 

“Freeze.”

Tino had felt the muzzle of the gun press against his hair and stopped even before the order was given. But he was shocked. Someone had managed to sneak up on him. No one had been able to do that since – No one had ever been able to do that before. He had underestimated the sort of people Ivan would pick for his crew.

“Put down your weapon.”

Tino was not stupid enough to underestimate another of them; that had nearly gotten Eiríkur killed the last time. So he obeyed, slowly lowering his gun and tossing it to the ground.

“How many others?”

“Two,” Tino answered honestly.

“There are five in your crew,” The voice behind him said. They had done their research. “Where are the other two?”

“Injured,” Tino said. “We killed your captain. And the woman,” he added. 

The gun against his head trembled slightly. “And now you’ve come to kill us?”

“We came for medical supplies,” Tino said. “We’re not equipped to treat such a severe injury.”

“Not very well prepared pirates, are you?”

“Actually we were,” Tino replied. He was getting bored of this conversation, even with the gun pressed to his head, and wished the officer would just get on with whatever he planned to do. “But we’ve already been blown up a couple times since our last resupply so we’ve run short.”

“So you decided to resupply from us?”

“I don’t think you’ll be needing it,” Tino said with a shrug.

“Well too bad, because you’re not getting anything from us. You’re coming with me. Put your hands behind your head, no sudden moves.”

Tino was less convinced now that he would get shot if he did anything, but he still did not try to escape. Before he even finished moving his arms, though, there was a loud thump from behind him and the gun fell away from his head. More curious than frightened, Tino turned out only to see Berwald standing behind him with a wrench in one hand and the officer sprawled on the floor, unconscious. But if that officer had been able to sneak up on Tino, then how had Berwald managed to sneak up on them? “You’re a lot stealthier than I gave you credit for,” Tino said.

“Are y’okay?” Berwald asked immediately.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Tino assured him. “He was just threatening me. Where’s Mathias?”

“Got tired of waitin’ and went to look for the cargo bay,” Berwald replied. “Said there probably wouldn’t be anyone down there, so don’t worry ‘bout him.”

“And you let him go?” Tino asked, then sighed. “Anyway, what do we do with this guy?”

Berwald looked down at the unconscious police officer and frowned a little. “Hostage?” he suggested.

“Guess so,” Tino agreed, and bent to pick up the gun he’d been forced to drop earlier. “Should we tie him up?”

“You have any rope?” Berwald asked.

“No,” Tino had to admit, and frowned a little. “Well, can you pick him up? I still think we should find the bridge, I guess there’s only one other crewman, and they wouldn’t want to leave that unmanned in case we decide to steal it.” Berwald nodded and bent down to pick up the prone officer, slinging the body over his shoulder easily. Tino went on ahead as soon as he saw that Berwald had the situation under control. He just hoped the officer would not wake up soon and start to fight. 

The pair continued moving toward the nose of the ship and it was not much longer before they reached a closed hatch labeled in a clean and efficient script ‘Bridge’. There was no window on the hatch, so Tino could not tell if there was anyone inside waiting for them, opening it was just a risk he would have to take. 

“Ready, Berwald?” Tino asked, and Berwald nodded, but while holding the unconscious police officer there was not much he could do to back Tino up. Well, hopefully the hostage would keep anyone from shooting them right away. Putting his gun back in its holster for the moment Tino took hold of the hatch handle with both hands and pulled hard to open it. Except for their individual cabins none of the hatch doors on the Hófvar were ever closed, so Tino was not used to using the strength necessary to open a reinforced door like the one that sealed off the bridge on a police vessel. All the same, the door moved slowly at first as he pulled, opening with a clank and protesting the first few inches before swinging open easily. As soon as it did, Tino pulled out his gun again lightning fast and pointed it into the room. But they were not confronted with resistance. There was only one person in the bridge, presumably a pilot, a small figure, a boy who looked like he was not much older than Eiríkur who cowered back in his chair and held up his hands defensively. 

Tino actually felt a little disappointed. Other than Ivan and that woman no one in this crew was putting up much of fight. Were these really the people that Ivan had chosen to surround himself with? Well, if they were no good at fighting they had to have other merits or he would not have bothered himself with any of them. “Just you?” Tino asked, trying not to sound as unimpressed as he felt. 

“Please don’t kill me,” the boy stammered. “I was just following orders! I’ll tell them you overpowered me, that there was nothing I could do!”

That would not be a lie. Berwald would easily be able to overpower the boy, and even Tino probably would not have that much trouble. “We won’t hurt you if you cooperate,” Tino said. He did not want to hurt anyone, but it was good to keep up pretences. “We need medical supplies. Where can we find them?”

“In… In the cargo hold, or in sick bay,” the boy answered, voice still trembling. Then he noticed Berwald, holding the still unconscious officer and shouted. “Toris! What did you do to him? Did you kill him?”

Tino looked over his shoulder at Berwald, who just shrugged. “No, he’s just unconscious,” he assured. “Your captain and the woman who was with him are dead, though.”

“You… you killed them?” the boy asked in horror.

“In self defense,” Tino said, though he doubted that made much difference to the boy’s feelings. “Now come on, show us where to find the supplies.”

“It… it’s down the starboard corridor…” the boy said, pointing at the door.

“No, no, you’re coming with us,” Tino said, and gestured with his gun for the kid to get up. “Just in case you’ve got this whole place booby trapped and locked down with key codes or whatever the military uses these days.”

The poor young pilot looked petrified, especially with Tino waving the gun around like that, but he managed to push himself up onto his feet, legs trembling and hands wringing together anxiously. He just nodded and walked toward the door. As he passed Tino and Berwald he kept glancing at them nervously, afraid to take his eyes off them for too long. Not that the boy was in any real danger. So long as he remained no threat to them or their mission he would not be hurt, just frightened a little. It was important to maintain a reputation of danger. Still glancing back at them very often, the boy lead them off the bridge and down the corridor, they took a few turns, and Tino realized that this ship was actually much bigger than their own, though it did not look it from outside. Perhaps developments in engine technology gave them more space to build living areas. 

“Its here,” the boy said when they reached a door labeled in the same efficient font as ‘Medical Bay’. 

“Open the door, then,” Tino said, and gestured to it, still waving his gun around carelessly. That was practically driving the poor young pilot into a panic, but he opened the door quickly and stepped inside in front of them. Tino followed him and looked around. The room was small, with two medical beds squeezed against one wall and all the others lined with drawers and cabinets. Each of these was labeled, but mostly with long scientific words that Tino did not understand. He had had basic medical training during his time in the military, but none of the technical jargon ever stuck. 

“Berwald,” Tino said, gesturing toward the beds. The engineer nodded and dropped the unconscious pilot onto one of the two beds that sat against one wall. “You can tend to your crewmate,” he added to the pilot, who stood quivering by the door. “Who was your medical officer?”

The boy hurried over to the bed where his comrade lay and Berwald stepped back so as not to frighten him too much. “Th- The captain was the best trained,” he stammered, looking over his friend, “But Toris was the official one.”

Tino sighed and looked at the unconscious form. Great, of the two people who knew what they needed to treat Eiríkur one was dead and the other was unconscious. He turned around and began pulling open drawers and cabinets, looking through them. But everything was in close to identical containers, differentiated only by a single colored stripe and a name, none of which Tino recognized. “Okay… We need at least bandages and painkillers,” he said, tearing open another cabinet. 

“Why do you need them?” the pilot asked.

“One of our crewmembers was shot,” Tino explained without looking away from his task. “And we’re short on supplies.”

The pilot hesitated, watching the two pirates tear through the medical bay in search for what they needed. Should he help them? They had not hurt him yet, but they had killed two people and incapacitated another. But when they had what they wanted they would leave, right? “Bandages are there,” he said, pointing to a drawer not far from where he was standing beside his unconscious friend. “And painkillers are there,” he added, pointing to another drawer. “Just… don’t take everything, please.”

Tino stopped riffling through every drawer within his reach and looked over in surprise. No one in the military had helped him since he was also a member, and even then he had not had much help from anyone there. “Thanks,” he said, and rushed over to the indicated drawers. “Berwald help me carry these,” Tino was already grabbing as many rolls of bandages as he could hold in his arms. Berwald went over to his side and took the bandages from them. When Berwald had all he could carry Tino moved on to the painkillers. There were multiple types, but Tino grabbed all of them, stuffing the little bottles into his pockets until they were full. “What else do we need?” Tino asked, looking around. “I don’t remember how to treat plasma burns.”

“Somethin’ to clean it?” Berwald asked.

“Right,” Tino said, and looked around. “So he doesn’t get infected… um… antibiotics.”

“I don’t know where those are,” the pilot said. “I… I’m sorry I can’t help you more.”

Tino grumbled in frustration and looked around again. “Oh well. Maybe Mathias had better luck in the cargo hold. Let’s find him and get this stuff back to the Hófvar.” Berwald nodded and headed for the door, Tino on his heels. But at the hatch Tino paused and looked back. “Sorry about your friend,” he said. “He should be okay when he wakes up, but check for a concussion just to be safe.” Then he turned back around and hurried after Berwald.

They found Mathias back at the airlock, holding a box full of medical alcohol, canned food, and a government-issue communicator and scanner. Even with Eiríkur’s life on the line he could not contain his desire to take anything that struck his fancy. They would be useful in the future, though, and they might never have a chance like this again.

“We got bandages and painkillers,” Tino announced when they met up.

“Great,” Mathias replied. “I’ve got med alcohol, and this scanner thing that I think has a medical setting? And food.”

“I hope that’s enough,” Tino said in concern, and headed out the airlock, hopping back down onto the ground. He was no longer worried about the police and just ran across the space between their two ships. The trio climbed back into the Hófvarpnir as quickly as possible and went straight to Eiríkur and Aleksander’s room.

“We’re back,” Mathias said at the door and set down the box he had been carrying to rush over to the side of the bed. Aleksander had not moved since they had left; he was still sitting there, staring at Eiríkur and holding his hand as tightly as he dared. “How’s he?”

“He woke up for a moment,” Aleksander said, and it would have been good news except for the hollowness in his voice. “But he… he was in so much pain. And there was nothing I could do to help him.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Mathias assured him. “Tino got painkillers. So next time he wakes up it won’t be so bad.”

“Yeah, here,” Tino said, and began emptying his pockets onto the small table beside the bunk bed. “I didn’t know what was best, so I just grabbed a few of everything. There’s some that you can inject, that’d probably be best right now, don’t you think? And Berwald has the bandages.”

“Thanks,” Aleksander murmured, accepting the supplies that they had brought back with them. He did not know how much help they would be, but it was better than nothing. Then again Tino and Berwald were pushed out of the cramped cabin so Aleksander and Mathias could tend to the teen’s wounds. 

\----------

Mathias and Aleksander were closed up inside the cabin for a long time while Tino and Berwald could do nothing but wait. Tino tried to sit still, but failed. He paced up and down the galley, wandered up to the bridge to look out the windows, walked back down the corridor, hovered by the cabin door to try and hear what was happening. The whole time Berwald watched him nervously, wondering if he should try to get Tino to settle down but knowing he would probably fail. So instead he just watched and occasionally trailed after Tino as he moved from one location to another restlessly. 

That was how Berwald found himself in the bridge, watching Tino fiddle with some of the dials that thankfully did nothing important, when movement outside the window caught his attention and he looked up to see the two remaining crewmembers of the police ship emerging through their damaged hatch and heading toward them. He called to Tino to get his attention and pointed out the window toward them. 

Tino cursed and jumped up from the pilot’s chair, immediately rushing to the cabin where Mathias and Aleksander were still holed up. Knocking on the door urgently he waited impatiently for it to open. “Mathias you should come see this,” he said when the captain finally showed his face.

“What is it?” Mathias asked.

“Potentially trouble,” Tino replied. “Just come.”

The captain glanced over his shoulder, then slipped out of the room. “This better be important,” he said.

“It is,” Tino assured, and lead him back to the bridge, where Berwald had not moved and was still watching the two policemen approach their ship.

As soon as Mathias saw them out the window he cursed colorfully. “Shit. What do they want?”

“They’re not carrying any weapons,” Tino observed, leaning toward the window to get a better look at the two men on the ground. 

“I’m definitely going to be,” Mathias muttered, “Come on, Tino.”

Tino followed him off the bridge and to the hatch, which lowered slowly once the airlock was opened. On the ground outside the two policemen were waiting patiently for them, but Mathias approached cautiously. “What do you want?” the captain asked defensively, stepping down onto the grass. Neither of the remaining police officers were particularly intimidating, but he was not willing to take any chances.

“One of your crew is injured, right?” the taller of them asked, the same one that Berwald had knocked unconscious earlier. “A plasma burn from a pulse gun?”

“What do you care?” Mathias asked. It was probably no use denying, but he did so out of habit. 

“I was the medical officer on our ship, along with the captain. If you want, I can take a look at your friend.”

“You want us to let you into our ship and let you tend to someone that badly injured?” Mathias asked in disbelief. “That would just make it easier for you to kill him, and the rest of us.”

“I won’t harm you or any of your crewmen, you have my word,” the officer assured. “I don’t have any reason to hurt you.”

“Of course you do,” Mathias scoffed. “It’s your job.”

The officer sighed faintly. “I am Toris Laurinaitis, the medical and technical officer aboard the Military Police Ship Alsviðr . My job is to enforce the laws of the Althing and respect the orders of my superior officers. We are currently outside the jurisdiction of the government that employs me, so I’m under no obligation to enforce their laws, and my commanding officer is dead. I’m currently the highest ranking officer on my ship, which puts me in charge. I’m willing to help treat your crewman and let you leave here freely. All I ask in return is the information you learned about this side of the galaxy, including the coordinates of this and any other planet you found on this side of the asteroid belt. Of course, I’d have no way of knowing if you were hiding anything from me.”

Mathias frowned and stared down at the police officer. “And you expect me to take your word for this? What are you going to tell your government about how your captain died?”

“We were exploring a planet in the uncharted portion of the galaxy and he met with an unfortunate accident. We were unable to retrieve the body,” Toris replied. 

Mathias’ frown deepened and he glanced over his shoulder at Tino, who just shrugged. “You’re going to leave your companions here to rot and lie to the government? And help a bunch of pirates? In return for coordinates you already know and a story about how we have the best pilot in the galaxy?”

“We were hoping for a sort of… We’ll help you and you’ll help us,” Toris replied. “Two of our crew are dead and we are low on supplies after a long voyage. You help us get back through the asteroid belt and we’ll help keep your crewman alive.”

Again Mathias looked back at Tino. They all wanted Eiríkur to recover, and he had a much better chance if a proper doctor could look at him. “I’ll discuss your proposal with the rest of my crew,” Mathias answered eventually. “Wait here.” He did not wait for a response before turning around and going back into the ship, Tino close on his heels. Mathias headed straight back to Aleksander and Eiríkur’s cabin. The only person he would let make this decision was Aleksander. It was his brother whose life was on the line, he should be the one to decide if they put it in the hands of a police officer.

“Aleks?” Mathias asked, peeking into the room nervously. Aleksander was still sitting by his brother’s bedside and from the looks of it Eiríkur had still not woken up. Berwald had wandered back from the bridge and was standing by the wall just inside the door, staying as out of the way as possible while still keeping an eye on the situation. 

“What?” Aleksander asked without looking away from his brother’s prone form.

“The doctor from the police ship is outside,” Mathias said, “He… He wants to help.”

That got their pilot’s attention and he slowly turned around to look at Mathias. “Why?” was all he asked. 

“I’m… not really sure,” Mathias admitted. “He said something about he’ll help us, we help him. He wants to know everything we’ve learned about this side of the asteroid belt.”

“That’s it?” Aleksander asked.

Mathias shrugged. “That’s what he said,” he replied. “It’s up to you whether you want to let him in.”

Aleksander turned back to his brother and stared at him. “Let him in,” he said finally. 

“Are you sure?” Mathias asked hesitantly.

“If he can help let him in,” Aleksander replied, and bowed his head over Eiríkur body. “If he can save my brother…” He cut himself off as his voice grew tighter and choked back a sob.

“Alright,” Mathias said, and turned around to go back out. He motioned for Tino and Berwald to follow him and they did, leaving the brothers alone for now. “I want one of you with this cop at all times. If he even thinks about making a wrong move I want him off the ship. We’re only letting him in because Eiríkur needs a doctor. If we could I’d get him back to Alfheim, but Aleks won’t leave him and no one else can fly this ship. Maybe when Eiríkur’s stabilized he’ll be willing to fly long enough to get us there.”

“So as soon as Aleks is willing to fly we get rid of these cops,” Tino said.

“Exactly,” Mathias replied. “They already have the coordinates of this planet, and I’m sure they’ll figure out how to get back through the belt if they got through it before. They don’t really need us. And I don’t want to give them Alfheim. Imagine what the government would do to a place like that.”

“Understood,” Tino replied with a curt nod. If the government came to this uncharted territory the first thing they would do would be to strip Asgard bare of all evidence of the Aesir and their technology. Then they would probably set up a colony while they bastardized any technology they could. Then they would move on, invading Alfheim if the people there would not agree to assimilate into the Galactic State. They would do to this side of the galaxy exactly what they had done to the rest of it, crushed its people and stripped it bare of it resources. Mathias did not like to think of himself and his crew as heroes of any sort, but would not let the government come to this unsullied side of the galaxy if he could help it. 

As they reached the hatch again Mathias looked down at the police officers standing outside. “The doctor can come in,” he said. “Only the doctor. And only to treat injuries.”

“That’s fine,” Toris replied, although his comrade looked distressed by this news. “Lead the way.”

“Do you need anything from your ship?” Mathias asked.

“I won’t know until I can see his wound and decide what needs to be done,” Toris replied.

“Fair enough,” Mathias decided, “You can come up,” he said, and stepped aside to let him through the hatch doorway. 

Toris stepped up into the ship nervously. He was wary of entering what was undoubtedly the pirates’ territory. He was not sure what had possessed him to do this in the first place. They had already knocked him out and threatened his friend before raiding their ship for supplies. He had no reason the help them, but here he was, following a pirate captain through the cramped halls of his ship to save the life of an outlaw. 

When they reached the room where the rest of the crew was waiting, hovering around the bed, Toris was a bit surprised by the atmosphere, tense with worry and heavy silence. It should not have been surprising, though. Toris would have been just as worried if someone he cared about was badly injured. 

“Berwald, Tino, out,” Mathias ordered. The room was too cramped for all of them to be there. The pair looked up and reluctantly filed out of the room. “Aleks,” Mathias’ voice took a much gentler tone and he approached the man slowly. “This is the medic I told you about, will you let him look at Eiríkur?”

Aleksander looked up at Mathias, his eyes red rimmed and dark, then over at Toris. Wisely, the police officer hung back by the door until he had permission to approach the bed. “You can help him, right?” Aleks asked, his voice hollow and desperate. 

“I think so,” Toris replied.

“Then do it,” Aleks said, and reluctantly stepped back from the bed, letting go of his brother’s hand as he did.

Toris glanced between the two pirates, then slowly approached the bed and knelt down to look at the injured crewman. Is first reaction was shock at Eiríkur’s age. What was this child doing all the way out here, and in such a dangerous situation? But he shook it off. That was really none of his business. Instead, he focused his attention on the burn. The pirates had bandaged it, and not done a very bad job if Toris was being honest, so first he had to unwrap the gauze strips to get a look at the injury. It was extensive, and that would be a problem. Toris could see burns all the way up the boy’s arm and onto his neck and jaw. The most serious part seemed to be around the shoulder and upper arm. Here the flesh was blackened and hard. The would was probably incredibly painful and it was lucky that the boy was not awake to feel it. “Has he been awake at all since the injury?” Toris asked.

“Once,” Aleksander answered, and tried to look over Toris’ shoulder at Eiríkur’s prone form. “But only for about a minute, and then he passed out again.”

Toris nodded. “It’s a serious burn, he probably passed out from the pain. That’s for the best anyway, he’ll heal best while asleep. Have you given him any medication.”

“Yes, here,” Aleksander said, and grabbed a bottle off the table, one of the many painkillers they had pilfered from the police.

Toris took the bottle and looked at it, then nodded and handed it back. “Those are fine,” he assured. “You should keep him as medicated as possible, either painkillers or sedatives to keep him asleep. There’s a lot of dead skin, I’ll have to cut it away, that’ll help keep the injury from getting infected.” He looked over at Mathias, who was still standing by the door. “I’ll need to go back to our ship to get the tools I need. Actually it would probably be better to move him over there.”

“That won’t be happening,” Mathias assured him, “But you can got get whatever you need from your ship. I’ll have Berwald go with you.”

Toris frowned a little; he did not think he needed supervision just to go get medical equipment from his own ship, but he wanted to stay on the pirates’ good side. “Fine,” Toris agreed, and stood up. If Berwald was the big one then at least he would be useful to help carry things.

\----------

Toris and Berwald were not gone long and they returned with all of the surgical equipment that the medic thought he would need to clean and treat Eiríkur’s wound. Toris really wished they would just bring the boy to his own ship. Their medical bay was much cleaner and much better stocked than this sorry excuse for a spaceship. 

“Would you allow me to work alone?” Toris asked when all of the supplies were brought back and laid out on the table beside the bed, but he already knew the answer.

“No,” Aleksander answered before anyone else even had a chance. He still had not left the room and had only strayed from his bedside when forced.

Toris sighed, but relented. “This… will not be pleasant,” he warned, and rolled up his sleeves. 

“I’m staying,” Aleksander insisted stubbornly. “That’s my brother lying there half dead and I will not leave him until he’s well again!” the pilot exclaimed. He grew mildly hysterical until Mathias placed a hand on his shoulder and Aleksander seemed to realize how he was behaving and calmed down slightly.

Toris was shocked; he had not realized these two were brothers. He supposed that explained what such a young boy was doing living a life like this. The family business, perhaps. “Alright,” he agreed. “But you must stay out of the way unless I ask you for something. I may need help at some point.”

Aleksander nodded in agreement. 

\----------

Mathias also remained in the cabin while Toris got to work and Aleksander watched nervously from a few steps away. Aleksander did not want to get in the way and risk doing anything that might hinder his brother's recovery. Mathias attempted briefly to calm him, but gave up when it did not work. Aleksander would not be calmed.

Eventually Toris did call them over for help. He tasked Aleksander with holding a light steady so he could see better while working at an awkward angle. He was not used to such cramped quarters, but did not trust Aleksander, who was obviously distraught, to do anything more important. When a second pair of hands were needed for medical work he used Mathias, who got a little queasy at times, but did have steady hands. Unfortunately, Toris had to remove far more dead flesh than he had initially expected. By the time he finished the skin was missing from almost Eiríkur’s entire upper arm and shoulder. It was not a pretty sight. When the worst was removed he had Mathias assist him in cleaning the remaining flesh as best as was possible, and then bandaged the limb carefully in fresh, sterile bandages. 

"The bandages will need to be changed frequently," Toris said when he was satisfied that they had done all they could for now. "To prevent infection. Even without infection we might see the wound start to deteriorate. Ideally we would put his whole arm under a regenerator to speed up the process, but it wouldn't be any less risky. Until the new skin starts to grow he'll be incredibly susceptible to infection and further damage to the muscle from improper care."

"I'll make sure he's taken care of," Aleksander said. "Tell me what to do, I'll make sure it's done."

Toris did not doubt Aleksander's conviction, but he did doubt his medical skills. "Check him every few hours and change the bandages twice a day at least," he explained. "He'll need to be dosed with painkillers and sedatives, as well as antibiotics and antivirals. Maybe immune boosters, too," he said thoughtfully, "To help start his body repairing itself. He'll need to sleep a lot, but he also still needs to eat a significant amount, healing a wound that size is hard work.”

Aleksander nodded in understanding, committing everything the memory, determined to do everything to help his brother. “I understand.”

Toris did not look particularly convinced, however. “He survived the initial shot, which is more than most people can say after a full power blast from one of those things. But the hardest part is the recovery and this could still all go downhill.”

Aleksander nodded again. “Thank you,” he said honestly. He knew this was more than any of them would have been able to manage on their own without potentially making the wound worse. And the officer had no reason to help them, nothing truly to gain from it. 

Toris nodded in reply and began to clean up the supplies he had used to treat Eiríkur. “It would be better if you could get him to a proper medical facility, but…” Toris commented, and trailed off nervously. Did people like this have anywhere to go for medical treatment? Even if they did, could they get anywhere in time for it to make a difference? How long could this kid survive without real medical care? Even the military ship was not properly equipped to deal with an injury as serious as this one. All Toris could do was patch him up, ply him with medications, and hope for the best.

His incomplete sentence did not go unnoticed by Aleksander, who automatically assumed the police officer thought they had no such resources. That was partly correct, but Aleksander did not want to seem like he could not care for his own brother’s health. “We will get him somewhere,” he assured stubbornly.

“Of course,” Toris replied politely, and finished cleaning up the used bandages and empty medicine bottles in silence before leaving the room. 

Mathias, who had been standing by the door the whole time, immediately began following him. “How is he?” the captain asked, tailing Toris as he left the ship.

“He’s stable, for now,” Toris replied. “But I don’t know how long that will last in an environment like this. He needs a hospital.”

Mathias frowned in concern and concentration, considering where they might be able to take Eiríkur to get him that sort of care. There were doctors on The Chariot, but that was so far away. “We’ll figure something out,” he mumbled thoughtfully.

“I hope you do,” Toris replied with a sigh. “For his sake.”

“You plan on leaving now?” Mathias asked.

“Not just yet,” Toris answered. “It’s hard to fly a ship with only two people. You’ve killed our captain, engineer and tactical officer. It’ll take us some time to get everything settled before we can head home. And you still owe me the information you promised.”

Mathias had been hoping they would forget about that, “How would you like it delivered?” he asked, fully planning to follow through with their deal after what this man had done for Eiríkur. 

“However is best for you is fine,” Toris assured him. “Tell me,” he paused and looked back over his shoulder at Mathias, “How did you really get through the asteroid belt?”

“I told you, we have the best pilot in the galaxy,” Mathias answered, and smiled a little bit, always proud to brag about his crew. “Aleks flew us.”

“Honestly?” Toris asked in amazement.

“Of course,” Mathias replied. “How did you get through?”

“We almost did not,” Toris replied. “Spent several days scanning it for an opening before Captain Braginski forced us to continue forward. It nearly killed us.”

Mathias winced a bit in unconscious sympathy. “He did not seem like the sort of man willing to take no for an answer,” he observed.

“No, he was not,” Toris replied. “But he was a good commander, all things considered. The military will be sad to lose him.”

“What about you?” Mathias asked curiously. 

Toris did not have an answer right away. “Braginski was not a bad man,” he replied eventually. “But I think he took his job and his position too seriously. He was harsh with anyone who he felt was not giving their best effort. I think he wanted to see the best in everyone, but he took it as a personal offence if you did not live up to his expectations.”

Mathias nodded thoughtfully, and was beginning to see why the police captain and Tino might not have gotten along very well when they were serving together. “Well, if you ever become disillusioned with the government and want something with a little more freedom…  
You know where you can find us,” he said with a flash of a smile before turning around again to go check on Aleksander and Eiríkur. 

“Actually I don’t,” Toris called after him.

“You will if you really want to,” Mathias said over his shoulder. “I think we could use a medical officer aboard. I’ll send everything we’ve learned about this region to your ship.”

“Thank you,” Toris replied, and watched with confusion as Mathias climbed back aboard his ship and disappeared again. This was a very strange group of pirates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alsviðr – One of the two horses that pulls the chariot of the sun across the sky. Meaning “very quick” in Old Norse.  
> Althing – In Viking culture a “thing” was an assembly of free men who met to solve disputes and make political decisions, including making laws and electing leaders. Today, Iceland still uses the term Althing to refer to their parliament, and similar names are found in other Scandinavian countries.
> 
> Extra long chapter for extra long hiatus. Not proofread, gotta keep up with NaNoWriMo.
> 
> PS: I have a twitter now (@salmiakkivodka) so follow me and go talk about FiV with #vikingsinspace


	23. Unhappy Endings

Eiríkur’s condition did not make any significant changes over the next few days, but Aleksander remained by his side the entire time, refusing the leave the room for any reason. Food had to be brought in to him to get him to eat. Mathias was beginning to worry, because as long as they stayed here he doubted Eiríkur would recover completely. At least for now he was not getting any worse, but how long would that last with their limited supplies, even with help from the police medic?

They had to leave this place, get Eiríkur to a proper doctor of some kind. But Aleksander could not be persuaded to leave their room even to eat, let alone to pilot the ship.

It had been five days now since they escaped the city and gained the tentative cooperation of the remaining two military police officers. They had been plying Eiríkur with painkillers and sedatives to keep him sleeping peacefully, but what they had stolen from the police ship was running low already. Tino, who had been tasked with keeping an eye on the police, reported that they were making preparations to leave, a difficult task with only two crew members, but doable.

With even the police leaving Mathias knew they had to get off this planet before it was too late, so he ventured into the brothers’ cabin for yet another attempt to convince Aleksander to leave his brother’s bedside.

“How is he?” the captain asked as he entered the rom.

As usual Aleksander was seated beside Eiríkur’s prone form on the bottom bunk. Eiríkur lay still and silent, drugged into sleep so he would not feel the pain of his injury. He was tucked carefully under the rough blankets, but his injured arm lay above them wrapped in crisp white bandages that stood out in stark contrast to everything else. The bandages covered everything from his wrist to his shoulder, and were even patched onto his neck and cheek. It was a sight that Mathias was horrifyingly becoming used to. When the captain came in Aleksander looked up at him briefly before turning back to his brother. “The same,” he answered. “I can’t tell if anything is changing. All he does is sleep, and even when he wakes he’s so weak he can barely eat. And if it weren’t for the painkillers I’m not sure he could even do that.”

“Aleks you need to get some rest,” Mathias said. Aleksander did not look up of move from his seat. “And if he’s stable for now we need to think about getting him to a proper doctor.”

“You think we’re going to find a better doctor out here?” Aleksander asked flatly.

“I think we should get him to Alfheim,” Mathias said. “I don’t know what they can do, but it has to be better than relying on the police and at least he’d be able to have a proper bed and everything. Isn’t that better than sitting here on this rock expecting him to miraculously recover?”

Aleksander fell silent, frowning deeply as he stared down at his brother’s unconscious form. “Fine,” he answered eventually. “I’ll set a course to Alfheim, but I’m not sitting in there the whole time. Not while he’s like this.”

“That’s fine,” Mathias assured him. “Get us off the ground, set a course, and then land us again. I’m sure that’s all you’ll need to do.”

Aleksander nodded slowly and stood up. “Can we go right now?” he asked, turning around to face Mathias.

“Don’t you want to rest first?” Mathias asked in concern.

Aleksander shook his head. “I’m fine,” he assured. “If everyone is ready we can go now.”

Mathias nodded. “I’ll tell them,” he said. “Do you want Berwald to stay in here with Eiríkur while you fly?”

“Yes… I’d appreciate that,” Aleksander admitted.

* * *

When they reached Alfheim Eiríkur was still bedridden, spending far more time asleep than he did awake. At all times someone was at his side; most often Aleksander, when he was not pried away by force to pilot the ship. They landed just outside the city, and as soon as they touched down Tino left the ship, racing into the city to beg help from those who had so graciously hosted them before. Despite being awake more often now, Eiríkur’s condition had not improved. He said the pain was less now, but he was on so much medication that it was impossible to determine if that was a good sign or not.

Tino was not gone long, returning soon with Vala and two others bearing a stretcher between them. Berwald carried Eiríkur out of the ship and lay him down on the stretcher, where Aleksander immediately took up vigil at his side again. Eiríkur was asleep at the moment, but appeared peaceful for the time being. 

“Do not fear,” Vala said gently as they headed back toward the town. “We will do everything we can to assist your brother’s recovery. May I ask what happened?”

“There were police that followed us… Followed us almost the whole time,” Aleksander said. He relayed the whole experience to her somewhat brokenly. It was difficult to talk about the fight and what had happened afterward, especially with his brother’s condition still so unstable.

When Aleksander finished their tale he fell silent. Vala did not comment for a long moment, “I am truly sorry to hear that you faced such hostility,” she said solemnly. “And that your search was for naught. We will do what we can for your brother, but you say it has been some time since he was injured. This could complicate his recovery, so I dare not make any promises.”

Aleksander nodded in understanding, though he hoped that the people here would be able to ensure his brother returned to health soon. “I understand,” he said softly, “Please just help him.”

Vala nodded and turned away from him as they reached the town. “While we are here you may use the same rooms you occupied on your last visit. Please rest and eat, I will find you as soon as we have any news of your brother’s recovery.”

“Can’t I stay with him?” Aleksander asked with obvious concern.

“I understand your worry,” Vala replied, “But I do not believe that would be best for your brother. Our healers are very skilled, but they will need to concentrate, and we cannot risk any interruptions. Please, stay with your companions and rest. I assure you that your brother is in good hands.”

Aleksander was not at all comforted to hear that. The two Alfar carrying the stretcher on which Eiríkur was laid entered a building along the main road from the city’s gate, but Vala stopped outside and held out a hand to stop Aleksander from following them inside. He had not left his brother’s side for more than a moment, and he did not feel comfortable doing so now even though he trusted that these people would do their best to help him.

“Aleks, come on,” Mathias said gently, stepping up to his side and laying a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You should get some sleep. They’ll take care of him.”

“I assure you, as soon as there is any change to your brother’s condition you will be informed,” Vala promised.

“Fine,” Aleksander agreed reluctantly, and tore his eyes away from the building his brother had been taken into, staring instead at the ground beneath his feet. Mathias wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gently steered him away, bringing him toward the building where they had stayed during their last visit.

“He’ll be fine,” the captain said while they walked. “He’ll be better before you know it.”

Aleksander hoped he was right.

As they neared their temporary home within the city Peter came running out the front door of the building, grinning from ear to ear and absolutely ecstatic to see them. He was dressed in garments similar to those that the Alfar wore, but less flowing, cut for much easier movement. It was good to see him again, and cleaned up and dressed in clothing that fit him properly to boot, but not enough to lighten anyone’s mood with concern about Eiríkur looming over their heads. As soon as he saw their glum faces Peter’s own smile faded and he slowed down, looking up at them with concern. “What’s wrong?” the boy asked. He had expected them all to be happy and excited when they came back, not like this. “Where’s Eiríkur?” he added after looking around for a moment.

The crew shared a nervous glance, all except Aleksander, who could not bear to talk about it any more today. The pilot pulled away from Mathias and rushed past Peter into the building, nearly knocking the poor boy over in the process. “Aleks!” Mathias called, and took off after him.

"What’s wrong?” Peter asked again, watching Aleksander and Mathias run into the building before turning back to Tino and Berwald. “Did something happen?”

Tino knew they had to tell him, but he had no idea what to say. For a moment he floundered, striving to think of something to say that would not seem too uncaring. Then Berwald stepped past him and crouched down in front of Peter to get at eye level with him. Tino was surprised, though he probably should not have been. Peter had taken a shine to Berwald immediately, and maybe the feeling was mutual.

“Eiríkur got hurt,” Berwald said simply but carefully. “He’s not doin’ very well, but the doctors here are takin’ care of him.”

Peter frowned in worry. “Is it like when you were hurt? Is he going to be alright?” the boy asked.

Berwald was quiet for a moment before he answered. “I think ‘s worse than when I got hurt,” he replied eventually, deciding not to lie to the boy. “But the doctors are gonna do everything they can. M’sure he’ll be fine eventually.”

Peter nodded slowly to show he understood, but he was worried now, and frightened.

“Let’s go inside,” Tino said, and placed a hand gently on Peter’s shoulder. “We can tell you what else happened while we were away,” he offered. “It’s not all sad.”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, and looked up at him with fearful eyes.

“And we should all get something to eat,” Tino added, turning Peter around and steering him into the building. “I’m starving.”

* * *

After finding something to eat, Tino found the room he and Berwald had stayed in last time, and all three of them sat on the bed to eat while Tino recounted their adventure to Peter, embellishing the exciting bits and toning down the boring or decidedly macabre parts. He left out completely how he had been forced to kill two people, instead claiming that they had managed to escape during the fire fight, although that was how Eiríkur had gotten injured. There was no avoiding that portion of the story.

Peter did find the whole tale very interesting, but he would have liked it more if it did not end with the near fatal injury of his close friend.

“Do you think Aleks is okay?” Tino asked softly when the story was finished, glancing over at Berwald. He did not know where the pilot or Mathias had disappeared to, but assumed they were together. Aleksander was, understandably, taking this the hardest, and Tino worried about him as much as he worried about Eiríkur. What would happen if Eiríkur did not make a full recovery? How would that affect Aleksander?

"I’m sure Mathias ‘s with him,” Berwald replied. That was some comfort, thought not much.

 “I wish there was some way we could help,” Tino murmured, and sighed.

 “Eiríkur is going to be okay, right?” Peter asked, staring up at them.

 “I hope so,” Tino replied. “It took us a long time to get him here, but these are good doctors. If anyone can make him better it’s them. Try not to worry too much.”

 Peter nodded slowly and looked down at the blankets below him; he did not appear very convinced.

 “What’d you do while we were gone?” Berwald asked, trying to change the subject to something a little more cheerful. Though he was worried also, worrying would get them nowhere, and he did not want Peter to stay unhappy.

 “I just stayed here, it was really boring,” Peter said, “Not nearly as exciting as what you did.”

 “More exciting isn’t always better,” Tino said. Sometimes he longed for a peaceful and lazy lifestyle, though he was sure he would get bored of it very quickly. “We didn’t get to see much of this planet before we left, maybe you can teach us some things about it. I see they made you new clothes.”

 That did brighten up Peter’s mood somewhat, and he smiled a little as he looked down at the outfit he was wearing. It was a loose shirt, belted at the waist, and matching pants, but Peter appeared to have been going barefoot while he was here. “You don’t think they’re stupid looking, do you?” he asked, suddenly feeling a little self conscious.

 “Not at all,” Tino assured him. “I think they’re great, and they look good on you.”

 “Thanks,” Peter said, his smile widening a little bit. “I’ve never had clothes this nice before. When they gave them to me I was scared to put them on because I didn’t want to mess them up.”

 Tino laughed softly, imagining the scene. “I wish I had something this nice,” he commented. “When we get back home we’ll get you more clothes, and ones you don’t have to worry about messing up.”

 “That would be nice,” Peter said, smiling. “Where is… home, though?” he asked curiously.

 “Well it’s,” Tino began, but then stopped himself. It was a question that should have had a very obvious answer, but he realized that he did not have one at all. At a loss, he looked to Berwald for an answer. Unfortunately for him, Berwald looked just as confused, and just shrugged when Tino looked at him. “It’s…” Tino said again, and frowned as he tried to work out exactly what they called home. “Well, I mean, the Hófvar is home, really, but… But I suppose The Chariot is our sort of base of operations.”

 “The Chariot?” Peter asked, both curious and a little intrigued. Whatever this place was had a very exciting name. “What’s that?”

 “Space station,” Berwald replied before Tino had a chance.

 “What’s a space station?” Peter asked in confusion.

 “Like a ship,” Tino explained, “But as big as a city! This one used to be a government research station or something, but the crew staged a rebellion and took over. Now it’s the only thing in the galaxy fully out of the Althing’s control. So that’s where everyone that doesn’t like them very much gathers.”

 “Like you,” Peter said. “So it’s a place where you can do whatever you want?”

 “Sort of,” Tino replied. “We still have rules, just to make sure that people are nice to each other, but there are no police, and there are no politicians, and people can do whatever sort of work they like without anyone telling them how they have to do it or when or where. So you can’t exactly do whatever you want, but the rules only apply on the space station itself, once you leave you can do whatever you want.”

 Peter’s eyes were wide with amazement as he nodded, listening raptly to how Tino described the rogue space station. “That sounds a lot better than Svartálfaheim,” he said. 

 “A lot better than most places,” Berwald said. “That’s why we all went there.”

 “Are there other kids there?” Peter asked.

 “Some,” Berwald replied. “Most people came there from somewhere else when they’re already grown up. But some people started families an’ had kids.”

 Peter was glad to hear that, he did not want to wind up in another place like Svartálfaheim where he was surrounded by other species and there was no one his age to be friends with. “Do you think they’d like me? I’ve never had any friends before.”

 “M’sure they’ll love you,” Berwald assured him. “And I’m sure you’ll have lots ‘f stories to tell ‘em. Way more exciting than any stories they have.”

 “You think so?” Peter asked.

 “Course,” Berwald replied. “Most of ‘em have never even left the station. You helped us make first contact with aliens.”

 “Hell, you lived with aliens!” Tino enthused. “That is amazing, and I’m sure they’ll all think you’re really cool.” Peter grinned, now very excited to get to this space station and try to make friends his own age.

* * *

There was no news of Eiríkur, nor any further sign of Aleksander, that day. Mathias, of course, emerged eventually and joined Tino, Berwald and Peter for dinner. He even brought food back to Aleksander, but the plate went untouched save for the few tiny bites he ate to stop the captain from hounding him. Aleksander was sick with worry now that his brother was out of his sight, and that did not change when word finally reached them that the Alfar doctors had finished treating Eiríkur. Although he asked, the messenger who came to bring them the news would not – or could not – tell them anything of Eiríkur’s condition. Instinctively, Aleksander feared the worst.

 All four of the remaining crew members, and Peter, followed this messenger back to the building the Alfar had taken Eiríkur into what felt like ages ago. Vala was there, waiting for them, her face grim but otherwise unreadable. Beside her stood another of the Alfar, another woman not as tall as their host, with her hair tied back at the base of her neck and dark circles under her eyes. Aleksander swallowed nervously and tried to calm his frayed nerves with little success.

 Vala took a moment to look over their rag-tag group – all nervous and frightened of what news they would hear. “I can see that you are all concerned about the boy’s condition, so allow me to come straight to the point. The healers have done what they could for your brother,” Vala reported, but her voice was solemn and her choice of words put Aleksander on edge. “But the injury was grave; the damage beyond anything we have seen since the fall of Asgard. We are no longer practiced in treating this sort of injury. I will allow Eir, our chief physician, to give you the details, for she has been attending to your brother this entire time.” Vala stood aside and allowed the weary-looking Alfar woman behind her to step forward.  

 Aleksander could not breathe. His chest felt tight, his throat like something was stuck in it, he clenched his hands into fists to hide their trembling. The woman’s words barely registered in his mind as she relayed the details. It was the same story that the government medic had told, only with more flowery speech. “In the end, the damage to your brother’s arm was too severe, and his body too weak to stave off infection. The only way to save his life was to remove the limb.”

 The words felt like a knife in the gut. Or what Aleksander assumed that would feel like. He felt sick. He could not speak. If he opened his mouth he might vomit. Or faint. He might do that anyway.

 “Can we see him?” Mathias asked when Aleksander did not.

 The healer glanced to Vala for a brief moment, and then gave a curt not. “He is still very weak,” she warned, “He may be sleeping. If so, I would not advise you to wake him.”

 Mathias nodded and placed a hand on Aleksander’s shoulder. The action seemed to snap the pilot out of his shocked stupor a little. He looked up slowly and met Mathias’ gaze. “Come on,” Mathias said gently, “Let’s go see how he’s doing.”

 Aleksander nodded and allowed Mathias to lead him forward by the arm. He walked as though in a daze as they were lead into the building and into a small room. The only things in the room were a bed and a small table on which a small light glowed steadily. Eiríkur lay in the bed, pale as the sheets that covered him from the shoulders down. For a moment Aleksander’s panicked mind thought he was dead, until he saw the shallow but steady rise and fall of his brother’s chest. If not for the patchwork of bandages trailing up from his shoulder to his cheek, the teen may have just been taking a nap.

 Very slowly Aleksander broke away from Mathias’ hand and approached the side of the bed. As he did so he noticed the irregular way that the sheets fell around Eiríkur’s body. The empty space where his arm should have been.

 Mathias and Aleksander were the only two that entered the room at first. The others hovered by the doorway, looking in nervously but unwilling to get in Aleksander’s way. Even Mathias held back a little while the pilot approached the bed where his brother lay, then slowly, carefully, sat down on the edge of the bed. For a long moment Aleksander stared down at his brother in silence, hands trembling with the effort of trying to keep himself together. An effort that was eventually too much to bear. A choked sob escaped Aleksander’s throat despite every attempt to keep it in, and he practically collapsed onto his brother’s sleeping form, overwhelmed by a mixture of relief that Eiríkur was still alive, and grief that his beloved baby brother had not escaped unscathed.

 Lost in his emotions, Aleksander did not hear the footsteps approaching him, and was startled when he felt a hand rest gently on his back. “He’s going to be alright,” Mathias murmured. Aleksander could only nod, not trusting his voice to say anything coherent through his tears.

When Eiríkur eventually woke up the brothers shared a tearful reunion. The younger could not remember anything that had happened since he was shot, though he had been conscious a handful of times. His physical recovery proceeded surprisingly quickly. In only a few days Eiríkur was able to leave his bed and venture out into the city. The boy’s emotional recovery was much slower, however. Eiríkur was even more quiet and withdrawn than usual. He allowed his brother to lead him around and baby him with no complaint. And Aleksander certainly gave him reason to complain; the elder brother hovered and coddled, and never once let Eiríkur out of his sight nor allowed his brother to lift a single finger in any kind of work.

The change in attitude was understandable, given everything that the teen had been through, and the shock that waking up without a limb must have been. Occasionally Eiríkur would attempt to do something – on the rare occasions when Aleksander had not anticipated his every need or desire – something that was second nature and should have been as easy as tying his shoe, and he would forget for half a moment about his new disability. Forget until his brain gave instructions to a hand and an arm that were no longer there. In these situations Eiríkur simply shut down. Whatever action he had been attempting simply stopped, his arm would fall limply to his side and he would stare blankly, helplessly, at what now seemed an insurmountable obstacle.

The others did what they could to help him overcome and adapt to the loss, but it was difficult. Mathias, in particular, often made wild promises about the future. “When we get back to The Chariot we can get you a prosthetic!” the captain had said once. “One of those really high end ones that look real and have feeling and everything; you won’t even know the difference! Jan or Eduard will definitely know where to get it. Or we could get you a really cool one with lots of different functions. You know, like the military use. You could put molecular scanners in your fingertips or something.” Eiríkur rarely gave any sort of answer, and despite everyone’s best efforts, the teen’s mental state did not show any signs of improvement.

* * *

“We should leave this planet as soon as possible,” Tino said, two weeks after Eiríkur had woken after the surgery. He was sleeping now, so the crew had been able to pull Aleksander away from his side in order to have a private conversation about his welfare. “I’ve seen this exact thing before with soldiers. The sooner we get him a prosthetic the easier it will be for him to deal with this. It doesn’t even have to be a nice prosthetic.”

 “I agree,” Mathias replied, and glanced over at Aleksander. “He’s recovered from the surgery, and if he’s well enough to travel we should get him home. Even if we can’t get him a new arm, I think getting him back in a familiar place will help.”

 Tino nodded in agreement, “It may encourage him to start learning how to deal with this. He needs to adapt eventually, and the sooner the better.”

 “What do you think, Aleks?” Mathias asked. It was unclear whether the pilot was actually listening or not, but they could not leave without his cooperation. No one else could fly the ship.

 “I should never have taken him off Jötunheim,” Aleksander said softly.

 The others were confused. What did that have to do with anything right now? “What are you talking about?” Mathias asked.

 “He never would have gotten hurt if I didn’t make him leave with me,” Aleksander said. “He’d be safe. Live in a house, go to school, have a normal life like a normal person.”

 “That sounds boring,” Mathias joked, a misguided attempt to cheer him up.

 “He almost died!” Aleksander exclaimed suddenly, silencing the captain immediately. “He almost died and it’s my fault. Because I made him come with me.”

 “Of course it’s not,” Mathias protested. “You didn’t force him to come here, it was his choice.”

 “He’s just a kid,” Aleksander said, “He doesn’t know any better.”

 “He’s not a kid,” Berwald butted in. “He’s old enough to make his own decisions. Knew exactly how dangerous this was the whole time. Could’ve stayed behind on The Chariot, or here, but he didn’t. Could’ve even gone home when we were at Jötunheim, but he didn’t. He chose to come with us. You didn’t make him do anything.”

 “The Swede’s right,” Mathias nodded in agreement, a rare sight. “Eiríkur knew what he was getting into, he knew it was dangerous, and he knew he could back out if he wanted to. He could have backed out years ago if he wanted to.”

 Aleksander fell silent and stared down at his hands, clasped in his lap. They were right, but he could not help blaming himself. After all, he had been the one to drag his brother into this lifestyle, it was hard for him to believe Eiríkur had come to accept or even enjoy it as much as Aleksander himself.

 “Besides, he’s alive, isn’t that the most important thing?” Mathias asked. “I was serious, too, when I said we’ll get him whatever kind of prosthetic he wants. Even if we have to steal it from a military base, I’ll get your brother a new arm. And it’ll be even better than the old one. You’ll be jealous.”

 Aleksander stared at him for a moment, and then let out a scoff of laughter. It was the first time any sort of smile had crossed his face since Eiríkur had been shot, and immediately Mathias felt hopeful that his attempts at making the pilot feel better were working. “You’re more likely to be jealous, I think,” Aleksander commented.

 “Probably,” Mathias admitted sheepishly. “So what do you say? Time to go home?”

 “Yes, I guess it is,” Aleksander replied.

 “Good,” Mathias grinned. “I’ll be another long trip, I’ll have to see about getting us supplies. And find out of there’s a better way through that asteroid field than flying blind,” he said thoughtfully. “Aleks, if Eiríkur’s fully recovered from the surgery you should keep him occupied as much as you can. I’m sure he can still do plenty on the ship with only one hand. You two make sure we’re ready to fly. Berwald, too. And take the kid, it’ll keep him from getting bored.”

 “I’ll help you with supplies,” Tino offered eagerly. Anything was better than just sitting around, and he would not be any use getting the ship ready.

 “Sounds good,” Mathias agreed. “As soon as we’re stocked up and Eiríkur feels up to traveling we’ll leave. Nice as this place is, I’m sure we’d all go mad from boredom in a month.”

* * *

They were not able to speak with Vala right away – apparently she was busy with other duties – but when they were finally able to speak with her Mathias got straight to the point. “While we’re very grateful for all that you’ve done for us, especially Eiríkur,” the captain said, trying his very best to be diplomatic, “We’ve decided it’s time we head back to our own side of the galaxy.”

Vala nodded in understanding. “I expected so,” she said, “Though you are welcome to stay, I understand you have been away from home for quite some time.”

 “We have,” Mathias agreed, though as long as they had the Hófvarpnir they were always somewhat at home. “We also think it’ll help Eiríkur to be somewhere familiar.”

 “I too believe that would help his peace of mind,” Vala agreed, “I am only sorry we could not do more for him.”

 “You saved his life, and that is more than enough,” Tino assured. “More than we ever could have asked. And I wish there was some way we could pay you back for all the generosity you’ve showed us.”

 Mathias nodded earnestly in agreement. They all would probably be dead or lost in space by now if not for the help of the Alfar. “There’s nothing we could do to repay you.”

 “You are correct,” Vala pointed out. “There is nothing you have that we need or desire. But you do not need to repay us in material things. My people have enjoyed our solitude, and the peace it brings. We would ask that you help us maintain that by keeping the location of our planet a secret.”

 “That’s easy enough. We can do that,” Mathias replied.

 “But the others that followed us,” Tino interrupted, “They know where Asgard is, and they may even have noticed this planet. They work for our government, and they’ll definitely report everything they saw. Even if we keep quiet about your people and this planet, someone may find out about it anyway.”

 Vala considered this for a moment before replying. “I understand,” she said eventually, “And I suppose there is nothing either of us can do to prevent that. However, this region of space has long been considered dead by your people, has it not?”

 “It has,” Tino confirmed, “For hundreds of years.”

 “And neither you nor those who followed you discovered anything on Asgard to make you believe otherwise, correct?” Vala asked, though waited only for their nods before continuing. “Any expedition beyond the asteroid belt would pose a huge risk for those involved, with no certain outcome. It would be incredibly foolish to make such an attempt.”

 “We made that attempt,” Mathias said defensively, “And our government can be ‘incredibly foolish’.”

 “Apologies,” Vala said, “It is unfortunate, but I believe it is a risk we must take. However, so long as you keep the secret of our location it will be long before they find is, if ever they do.”

 “I suppose so,” Tino said thoughtfully. “They aren’t very smart, but they are lazy. It’ll be ages before they think it’s worth exploring out this far if they don’t have anything to motivate them. And I really don’t think Asgard will motivate them if there’s nothing there to find.”

 “I guess we don’t have to worry about it, then,” Mathias said happily. “We just have to worry about getting home.”

 “We can help you with that as well,” Vala offered. “It is extraordinarily impressive that you were able to fly through the asteroid field to get her, but that won’t be necessary on your return.”

 “So you do have a way through it?” Tino asked eagerly.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Vala replied. “When you are supplied and ready to depart I will let you know what trajectory to take.”

“Thank you,” Mathias said, “That will make things much easier for us.”

“Thank you so much,” Tino repeated, “We’ll let you know when we’re ready to go. It should only be a couple days.”

Vala nodded. “I hope you will enjoy the rest of your time here,” she said before bidding them farewell for now.

Mathias and Tino returned to their ship, where the others were preparing it for their departure. The vessel had been a little neglected while they were preoccupied worrying about Eiríkur. At the moment, Berwald and Aleksander were running a full systems check to make sure nothing had gone amiss while the ship was left unattended. Peter was eagerly helping Berwald in any way he could, which mostly consisted of handing him tools or cleaning out pipes that Berwald’s hands were not small enough for. Eiríkur was meant to be helping Aleksander, but he mostly just hovered around him, watching except when specifically asked to do something. And Aleksander did not ask him to do very much. When Mathias and Tino climbed aboard they gathered everyone in the galley and happily relayed what Vala had told them.

 “I’m glad I won’t have to fly through those asteroids again,” Aleksander said, relieved, “Once was more than enough.”

“It was,” Mathias agreed. “I guess there’s a gap somewhere we can go through, Vala said they’ll tell us where when we’re ready to go.”

Aleksander nodded. “Berwald and I are almost done with diagnostics. So far the only issues are from sitting here for weeks. She’s not used to being inactive this long. I’ve been running life support since we got here to get it warmed up.”

“Good,” Mathias replied. “How long do you think it will take to get back to the Chariot if we make a straight shot from here?”

“Well, it depends on where the gap in the asteroid field is, and where the station has moved to, but I’d say no more than a week or two at top speed,” Aleksander answered thoughtfully.

“Alright,” Mathias nodded, “I’ll make sure we get at least two weeks worth of food and water, then. You guys keep working; make sure we won’t have any problems once we’re in the sky.”

“That’ll be easy as long as you stay out of the way,” Aleksander said, and turned to head back to the bridge without further comment.

“You heard him, back to work!” Mathias said, completely unfazed by Aleksander’s comment. “We all want to get home as soon as possible, right? So we can tell everyone what happened and become famous explorers, right?”

“Sure, famous, right,” Tino said, rolling his eyes. 

* * *

Aleksander and Berwald gave the ship a clean bill of health just before sundown on the following day. By then the hold was well stocked with more than enough water and stored food to last them until they got back to the more populated regions of space. It was not their usual fair of canned, preserved, or otherwise non-perishable foodstuffs, though. The Alfar were not much for preserved foods, apparently, and had little to offer them in that vein except the largest variety of dried fruits that Mathias had ever seen. They had accepted it, of course, along with a wide selection of breads and enough fresh food to feed them for a few days at least – the longest Mathias trusted it not to go bad even in the climate controlled portions of their hold.

Although everything was ready, they decided to wait until morning to make their departure, and enjoy one last night on solid ground, never knowing when they would next be able to enjoy such a luxury. But first thing in the morning they met with the Alfar just outside their settlement to say their goodbyes and try to express their gratitude one last time.

“We really can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us,” Aleksander said, speaking for the whole crew. All of them wished there was something they could give back to these people who had given so much to them.

“It is little trouble to help strangers,” Vala replied. “And we see so few these days. We are glad that the first humans to visit us in so many years were as kind and respectful as you, and we hope that the rest of your journeys will be far easier than the one you have taken to reach us.”

“Thank you, we hope so, too,” Mathias replied.

Vala turned to one of the Alfar beside her and took a thin notebook from them, which she then offered to Aleksander. “In this you will find the trajectory that will take you safely back to your quadrant. As soon as you leave the atmosphere of our planet be sure to follow these instructions carefully.”

Aleksander accepted the booklet gratefully. “Thank you,” he said again, “This will definitely make our journey home easier.”

Vala smiled faintly and looked over the small rag-tag crew and their ramshackle space ship. “If ever you return to this quadrant know that you will be welcome here again,” he said.

“We will be sure to remember than,” Aleksander replied, “Though I don’t think you will be seeing us again.”

“Then this must be farewell,” Vala replied, and bowed to them very slightly. The crew all returned the gesture a little awkwardly, bid their farewells also, and retreated into their ship.

“Alright, let’s get going,” Mathias said as soon as the airlocks were closed. “I’m ready for some real work again.”

“I can’t believe that wasn’t enough excitement to last you a lifetime,” Tino said, rolling his eyes.

While Berwald descended to the engine room as usual the others followed Aleksander to the bridge, where the pilot took up his usual seat and began starting up the engines. Eiríkur took the seat beside his brother as usual, but did little more than watch and recite readings from the computer as the engines rumbled to life. In moments they were off the ground and soaring upwards, watching as the planet below them grew further and further until they burst through the upper atmosphere and into the void of space. Below them the planet shrank away into the distance, a blur of green and blue. “Alright, what’s our trajectory?” Aleksander asked, looking to Eiríkur, who had the slim notebook open on his lap. His younger brother read out a string of numbers that meant nothing to the rest of them, and Aleksander programmed the ship’s navigation accordingly. The ship lurched forward suddenly, knocking everyone who was not sitting off their feet as it slammed into full speed, and then, only moments later slammed to a stop again, toppling them again.

“What the hell, Aleks?” Mathias asked, who had only barely managed to remain standing by holding onto the back of Aleksander’s chair. Tino and Peter had not fared so well. “What was that for? Did you forget how to fly?”

“That wasn’t me,” Aleksander said defensively, and began furiously pushing buttons to try and figure out what had happened.

“Then what was it?” Mathias demanded.

“I don’t know,” Aleksander said, “Are you all okay?”

“We’re not hurt,” Tino assured him as he rose to his feet and helped Peter up as well, “Some bruises maybe, but we’ll be fine.”

“Good, sorry, I’m trying to figure out what happened,” Aleksander said without looking up from the screens in front of him.

“The stars changed,” Peter said suddenly.

“What?” Mathias asked, looking back at him, and then out the window. Sure enough, the stars were different. The constellations had changed entirely. “They did. We’ve moved somewhere. Where are we?”

“Moved?” Aleksander asked, looking up for the first time. “Hold on, we’re…” he furiously began scans to try and pinpoint their location. “We’re at the edge of the Midgard system,” he reported.

“What?” Tino asked. “That’s not possible. We were at the other end of the galaxy two minutes ago. This ship can’t go that fast.”

“It didn’t,” Aleksander frowned in confusion as he played with the various dials and switches on the control panel. “We never left impulse.”

“What?” Tino said again. “Are you sure? Maybe there’s been a glitch.”

“There’s no glitch,” Aleksander insisted.

“You’re saying we actually got across the galaxy in five minutes?” Mathias asked. “No ship can go that fast. The only way to cover that amount of space so quickly is…” he trailed off as his brain finally made the connection.

“Through a wormhole,” Aleksander finished for him.

“But if there was a wormhole ending here we would know about it,” Mathias protested. “Everyone would know about it.”

“That’s just it, there’s not a wormhole here,” Aleksander replied. “There’s no trace of one anymore, at least.”

“What the hell are you talking about? If we just came through then there has to be one,” Mathias protested, getting increasingly confused.

“Well there’s not, the computers aren’t picking up anything,” Aleksander said helplessly.

“Then it must have been there only temporarily,” Tino concluded.

“But that’s not possible,” Mathias protested. 

“It is if they created it,” Tino said.

Mathias stared at Tino as though he had lost his mind. “You’re saying…”

“They have a wormhole generator,” Tino nodded.

“A goddamn wormhole generator… “ Mathias breathed in disbelief. “Son of a bitch.”

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eir – A Norse goddess or valkyrie associated with medicine and healing.
> 
>  
> 
> That's it! Thank you all for reading and for sticking it out through my long-ass hiatuses! It's been an adventure. If you're interested, please head over to my tumblr (erandir.tumblr.com) for reader presents and other behind the scenes type stuff. And for news about future sci-fi shenanigans (probably more space vikings, potentially some space mermaids).


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